We’ve curated a list of the Best Low Pollen Flowers For Gardeners With Allergies so you can have a colorful home and lawn without risk!
Whenever a flowering season arrives, you panic. Instead of frolicking in a garden full of blooms, you find yourself running away with itchy rashes, watery eyes, and convulsive sneezes! You’ve got a bad case of pollen allergy, and we’ve got the remedy! Here are the best hypoallergenic flowers with a low pollen count so you may enjoy allergy-free gardening.
Best Low Pollen Flowers For Gardeners With Allergies
1. Snapdragon
Botanical Name: Antirrhinum majus
Snapdragons have tubular blooms with a lip-like enclosure. The flower traps pollen by snapping its mouth shut, keeping it contained so it doesn’t fly off everywhere. And it can be opened only by strong bees, its main pollinators.
These beautiful flowers are an excellent hypoallergenic choice for both spring and fall gardens, which makes them versatile.
2. Crocus
Botanical Name: Crocus sativus
Most spring bulbs, including Crocus, rely on insects rather than the wind for pollination. This means they are conservative in how much pollen they produce. This type of pollen is usually larger and stickier and doesn’t spread rampantly through the air, making it less triggering for people with allergic rhinitis.
3. Sea Thrift
Botanical Name: Armeria maritima
Sea Thrift’s pink or white flowers rely on bees for pollination and do not have a high pollen count. These maritime flowers thrive in poor soil and around seawater, making them a great low-maintenance blooming choice if you have an allergy and you live near a coast.
4. Pansy
Botanical Name: Viola x wittrockiana
The garden pansy is a popular variety grown by gardeners with allergies. Its thick, sticky pollen is too heavy to be airborne, making it a great flower with low pollen. It grows well in both full sun and part shade and comes in many pretty colors—perfect for patios and balconies.
5. Azalea
Botanical Name: Rhododendron spp.
Azaleas are woody shrubs that bloom in spring and some varieties even flower from midsummer to fall. Due to their low maintenance nature and pretty blooms these are among the best flowering shrubs for people sensitive to pollen.
They rarely release pollen to the wind, making them perfect for allergic gardeners. However, there is a catch! All parts of azalea plants are poisonous, so handle them with care.
6. Bougainvillea
Botanical Name: Bougainvillea spp.
These tiny tubular flowers produce very little pollen. The blooms are actually the tiny, white bits within its larger, papery bracts that appear in pink, purple, red, yellow, and orange. Give these flowers full sunlight and less frequent watering if you want the best blooms.
7. Cactus
Botanical Name: Cactaceae
When you think about cacti, blooms are not your first thoughts. However, some of the prettiest flowers appear on cacti, and they are relatively less in pollen. Cacti need cross-pollination from other cactus plants to produce viable seeds, but they do not rely on the wind to disperse them, so the pollen count in the wind is very low always.
8. Camellia
Botanical Name: Camellia spp.
Camellias have rose-like flowers and grow best in rich soil under partial shade. Interestingly, these flowers have both the male and female reproductive organs on the same flower. They rely on insects to carry their pollen from the male stamens to the female parts of another plant.
Since there isn’t much movement involved, they are perfect low-pollen candidates for allergic gardeners.
9. Clematis
Botanical Name: Clematis spp.
Clematis are climbing plants with large, colorful flowers. They, too, produce very little pollen since they rely on insects like butterflies, moths, and bees to move them. The best part is that you can find them in many pretty colors and varieties.
10. Columbine
Botanical Name: Aquilegia spp.
This hummingbird magnet produces nectar-filled perfect flowers that rely on birds and insects for pollination. As we’ve seen above, this type of pollen is stickier, heavier, and seldom airborne, making it safe for allergic gardeners.
11. Geranium
Botanical Name: Geranium spp.
Also known as Cranesbill, these flowers produce very little pollen. Researchers in Spain have even developed a pollen-free Geranium. Grown as annuals everywhere, these white, pink, and violet flowers grow best in full and partial sunlight.
12. Hibiscus
Botanical Name: Hibiscus spp.
The ever-popular, large, bold Hibiscus blooms are favored by humans, birds, and insects alike. This nectar-producing bloom’s pollen comes with a sticky coat that sticks to its pollinators, making it too heavy to fly away with the wind. Now, if you like this plant even more, these tips will help you keep your Hibiscus blooming.
While it’s generally considered a low-pollen flower for gardeners with allergies, it’s important to test out individual sensitivities to the flower, as some have reported reactions to it.
13. Hydrangea
Botanical Name: Hydrangea spp.
Hydrangeas produce large flower clusters designed to attract friendly pollinators rather than relying on the wind for pollination. The amount of pollen produced by Hydrangeas is also relatively low, and its flowers primarily comprise sterile florets that do not produce pollen.
14. Impatiens
Botanical Name: Impatiens spp.
Luring honeybees, bumblebees, moths, and butterflies to their blooms to pollinate, varieties in the impatiens genus also include certain touch-me-not types–not to be confused with the identical-named Mimosa pudica. The spotted touch-me-not has ripe seed pods that react to touch by bursting open and forcefully releasing their seeds.
Most impatiens varieties have pollen that is too heavy to be carried by the wind, so they are pretty safe if you are allergy-prone.
15. Bearded Iris
Botanical Name: Iris spp.
Sporting a “beard” stamen that produces pollen on its three drooping petals, these spring bloomers also multiply through rhizomes–an underground stem. They mainly rely on pollination from birds, bees, and butterflies to produce seeds and genetically evolve.
But as with most nectar-producing flowers, the pollen is sticky and weighted, and you know the rest! So grow these bearded marvels in your garden without fear of plummeting into an allergic whirlwind!
16. Petunia
Botanical Name: Petunia spp.
Compared to strong-scented flowers, petunias have a mild scent that is less likely to trigger allergic reactions. Plus, with a low pollen count on account of being insect-pollinated plants, these flowering annuals are perfect for pollen-intolerant people. And don’t checking out our guide to growing petunias in containers.
17. Roses
Botanical Name: Rosa spp
Relax—the most romantic flower is thankfully hypoallergenic! With the exception of wild roses, most of these sweet-scented blooms produce heavy, large pollen that isn’t airborne. Typically, hybrid forms with dense petals release less pollen than single flowers.
However, being as aromatic as they are, their strong smell could trigger reactions in some.
18. Begonia
Botanical Name: Begonia spp.
Begonia species are easy to maintain and undemanding and are perfect for this list of low-pollen flowers for gardeners with allergies.
Nearly all its varieties shed little pollen, and whatever pollen is present is wedged deep in the flower to be extracted by its choice pollinators.
19. Tulips
Botanical Name: Tulipa
The 17th-century Tulip Mania placed these tubular blooms as pricier than diamonds! So it’s understandable if you covet these flowers even as you wipe away your allergic tears. Thankfully, many of these spring-blooming varieties produce very little pollen, with some cultivars that release almost none!
So just find the right one for you from this list, and watch it flourish in your hypoallergenic low pollen garden.
