If the thought of spending time in the garden this weekend brings you out in a rash, read on

You labour all year, lovingly tending the plants that you have nurtured. You water the seedlings, prune the shrubs and feed the bulbs. Then, just as the garden reaches its zenith and bursts into bloom, it attacks.

You labour all year, lovingly tending the plants that you have nurtured. You water the seedlings, prune the shrubs and feed the bulbs. Then, just as the garden reaches its zenith and bursts into bloom, it attacks.

Pollen is the garden's weapon of mass destruction. In sensitive people it lays waste to the nose, eyes, throat, lungs, skin and mouth. The tiny grains provoke an allergic reaction that makes tissues swollen, red, hot, itchy and irritable.

The gardener who should be sitting outside of an evening, glass in hand, enjoying the fruits of his or her labour is instead closeted indoors, with red eyes and runny nose, wondering whether it is time to concrete over the lawn.

Now doctors have come up with a strategy for the sensitive plant-lover: the low-allergy garden. Making its debut at the Chelsea Flower Show next week, the Royal College of Pathologists' display explains how to avoid particularly vicious plants such as the shimmering blue ceanothus, evening primrose, scented Japanese honeysuckle, lavender, lilac and the ubiquitous privet hedge. In their place, low-allergy alternatives recommended include the delicate columbine, scarlet and orange geum, lobelia, love-in-a-mist, blue periwinkle and the strawberry tree.

The basic strategy, Joanna Sheldon, an immunologist specialising in allergy at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, said, was to avoid wind-pollinated plants, such as trees and grasses, which produced quantities of pollen carried on the breeze. She said: "Choose plants that are insect-pollinated. These are often brightly coloured and have large petals and showy flowers, or have the pollen deep inside the flower, or may be scented: all features that will attract insects."

For shrubs and flowers such as bougainvillaea and impatiens, female plants are to be preferred over male, because they do not produce pollen.

The college has drawn up a list of tips on how hay-fever sufferers can reduce their exposure to pollen. Grass has one of the longest pollen seasons, starting in May, peaking in June and July and tailing off in August, and is the commonest cause of hay fever. The best defence is to keep the grass mown - by an allergy-free member of the household - so that it does not go into flower.

The pollen count has two peaks each day, from 7 to 11am and from 4 to 8pm; sensitive individuals are advised to stay indoors with windows closed at these times. For them, clothes are better tumble-dried than hung on the line. Outdoors, sunglasses help protect the eyes from allergic reactions.

Some plants can also produce skin allergies on contact, such as nettle rash. The sap of the daffodil is an irritant to some people. Latex from the shrub euphorbium and sap from the sunflower may also cause irritation. In Europe the commonest cause of contact dermatitis is the hairy stems and leaves of the primrose.

Dr Sheldon said: "We can't tell people with allergies not to breathe when they go out or not to touch anything. We can't say avoid the grass. But if you are going to plant a garden at home and want to make it a low-allergen garden, then these are the plants to choose. You can't eliminate exposure, but you can reduce it."

An estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population have an allergy, but its impact varies depending on the individual and the time of year. Tree pollen is at its highest level in March and April and is over by the end of May, just as the effects of grass pollen start to kick in. Weed pollens are at their peak in July and August.

Many factors determine who will develop allergies, including genetics, infections and family background. Growing up in a large family appears to offer protection against allergies.

There is a range of treatments, from antihistamines to desensitisation with a series of injections, but at Chelsea next week the avoidance option will also be offered.

PLANTS FOR A LOW-ALLERGEN GARDEN

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis)
Broom (Genista lydia)
Bugle (Ajuga reptans)
Busy Lizzie (Impatiens walleriana)
Choysia (Choisya ternata)
Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris)
Coral bells (Heuchera sanguinea)
Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster spp)
Cranesbill (Geranium spp)
Day lily (Hemerocallis hybrids)
Dead nettle (Lamium spp)
Fibrous-rooted begonia (Begoniaceae)
Geum (Geum chiloense)
Hebe (Hebe spp)
Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis)
Lobelia (Lobelia erinus)
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)
Masterwort (Astrantia major)
Meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium)
Penstemon hybrids
Periwinkle (Vinca minor)
Plantain lily (Hosta spp)
Poppies (Papaver spp)
Purple leaf sand cherry (Prunus x cistena)
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Scabious (Scabiosa caucasica)
Sea holly (Eryngium x tripartitum)
Siberian iris (Iris sibirica)
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)
Willow-leafed pear (Pyrus salicifolia)