Plant Alert: A Garden Guide for Parents

This is a must have book for parents, especially of babies and toddlers. It's also great for anyone working with little ones. I picked this book up at my local nursery while I was getting some plants to donate to the garden at my son's day care. The book has wonderful, easy to identify color photographs of "problem" plants. Information is included on each plant's common name(s), hazardous part (i.e., seeds, leaves, bulbs, flowers), and what symptoms to expect if ingested or touched. The plants most likely to cause a severe or fatal reaction have a special red marker next to them for quick reference. There is also a section on first aid. There were several plants according to the book that I was surprised (but glad) to find out are very poisonous, including holly, laurel, mistletoe, yew, sweet pea, columbine, delphinium, hellebore rose, larkspur, lupine, pennyroyal and foxglove. I feel much better now knowing more about the plants my toddler does/may come in contact with. I imagine this book would be a good educational tool for older children too (with the help of an adult, of course)...a good, simple introduction to toxic plant identification.