I like the idea, but I don't think most outdoor allergies come from your own garden. Ragweed pollen and other wind-borne pollens can easily travel miles from the source plant, and planting non-allergenic flowers in your own garden won't eliminate what blows in from outside.

Here's how I see it: If you can comfortably be outside for an extended period during allergy season in a place that isn't your garden, then you can also garden in a way that won't aggravate your allergies. Unfortunately, my allergies will act up just as much if I'm walking down the street as they would in my garden, so I don't think my choice of plants has anything to do with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ragweed Info

I absolutely agree, and I'm lucky enough not to suffer from allergies myself, so I can't imagine how it feels. I just found it interesting that the plants they are claiming to be "allergy friendly" are the same plants we all have in our cottage gardens and are likely to be some of the older plants out there.

Most of the plants that I was tested for in the standard allergy battery were trees. I guess tree pollen is really bad for sufferers- olive trees are a big problem here.
Renee

Just plant what you like and don't worry about it. If you have bad allergies you are going to have them no matter what so you may as well enjoy your garden while you suffer.

I think it's a fad that some garden writer started, since as others have said, it's wind-pollenated plants that cause allergies and they don't have showy flowers. In general we don't plant wind-pollenated in our gardens and yards with the exception of woody plants like oaks, pines, and maples. My worst allergy is grass, and since we live in a rural area, I can't get away from hay fields or trees. I do take sensible precautions like not leaving my bedroom window open and closing all the windows in the house before the lawn gets mowed. The only thing in a flower garden to worry about allergy-wise is avoiding plants which cause skin contact reactions. I mulch with wood chips and don't find I have any more problems working around the wood chipped gardens. I have found that I can't shred or turn partly finished compost, since the shredding process puts lots of mold spores into the air.