In the age of climate change, my guest on today’s reprise edition of the podcast told me, we can expect “more poison ivy and meaner poison ivy,” and I’d say from what I see growing around me and the rashes on friends, that both are coming true. 

Though it may feel like it to many gardeners and others who spend time outdoors, poison ivy was not put on the planet to punish mankind for some sin—or to boost antihistamine sales and dermatologist visits. 

As with every native plant—and yes, Toxicodendron radicans is a native plant, and an important one at that—there is method to what seems like madness in the grand scheme of things. 

Poison ivy is one of the plants I’m asked about regularly by listeners, so today we’ll get a much closer look from a very safe distance, in this archive conversation with Dr. Susan Pell, and hopefully learn what we need to manage around it better, but also to give it the respect it deserves. 

Dr. Pell is intimately familiar with poison ivy and its relatives, because she has for years studied them right down to the molecular level. Dr. Pell is Executive Director at the historic United States Botanic Garden in Washington DC and also former director of science at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 

On her Linked In profile, alongside all her impressive scientific credentials: she also says this: that she “loves to show people the coolness of plants.” 

So keep an open mind, gardeners, as we explore the “cool” of poison ivy—and of course practical, more obvious matters like what to do to avoid that damn rash.

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