New house has a Laburnum tree

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We have a 10 month old .

I had no idea the tree was poisonous till df told me.

The tree is at the bottom of the garden. Looks beautiful but is big.

I'm worried. Do I need to be?

My next door neighbour (when she first moved in) took out the Monkshood at the front of her garden because we had a baby. It was very thoughtful of her but there wasn't a chance he was going to be going round eating plants randomly.

It's your call - we were brought up knowing the dangers of laburnum as it was a very common garden plant in the 70s. Weigh up how likely your child is to have access to eating parts of it before you have the chance to drum it into them that it can kill.

Loads of things in the garden are harmful if eaten, the best thing is to teach them not to eat anything they don't recognise as being edible from the start.

However a laburnum doesn't do it for me, I would happily get rid and put something more useful in.

Our garden when the dc's were babies was full of poisonous stuff -not least a beautiful very old yew tree.
With ivy, cuckoo pint etc constantly encroaching from the woods we opted for vigilance.
As soon as possible I taught them not to touch, pick or eat any berries, toadstools or mushrooms.

Our laburnum is beautiful this year. Huge yellow swathes of flowers on sweeping branches. All humming with happy bees. :)

My brother and I grew up here. I have three children who have lived here all their lives more or less. Never an issue with them eating the seeds. They generally can't reach them when they're green and in pod. Then the pods dry and the seeds (quite small) fall into the grass below, never to be seen again.

The dcs have known from the get go that they should eat any part of the tree but then they tend not to eat any berries on holly or other plants either.

My parents had a laburnum tree in our front garden. The neighbours asked them to cut it down when they moved it but they said no. My brothers and I are still alive. They sold the house last year and the new family immediately chopped it down. My mum is a bit gutted but I would do the same. Why take the chance?

It's about 35/40 foot high and huge - been here since well before 1970s (when parents moved in).

stay vigilant but don't be too worried.
as with many poisonous plants, it is emetic (i.e. makes you throw up).

teach the dc 'no picking no licking'

My parents have a laburnum tree in their back garden, they just taught us not to eat stuff from the garden/trees that we didn't know what it was, I don't think there's any need to cut it down

I think the rule of "no picking, no licking" sums it up very well. The only plant I got rid of was monkshood.

Nobody has died from eating Laburnum. Helpful article

Don't cut it down, they are beautiful trees.

Keep it : they are lovely little trees.
Get this book : (just not from Amazon)
www.amazon.co.uk/Poisonous-Plants-Fungi-Illustrated-Guide/dp/0112427189
it lists the plants, which bits are dangerous
AND HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HARMED BY THEM

it is therefore very reassuring.

Interesting thread - in the 70s there was one in the grounds of the primary school I attended. We all knew not to eat any of it and there were never any problems.

There were 2 in my parents' garden when we were growing up and we all lived to tell the tale. One was right outside my bedroom window - I was pretty cross with them when they cut it down to make way for their new conservatory!

I grew up in a house with a laburnum tree in the garden. I had it drilled into me never ever to eat the seeds. Now whenever I see a laburnum tree I feel a bit ill, as I associate it with poison.
I never did eat the seeds, though!

we have one in our front garden, our drive way is there which we share with a neighbour, so ds doesn't play out there, only to 'help' water the plants so i assume its safe, are they only dangerous if eaten? i assume this is similar for a lot of garden plants?

Yes, there are a lot of garden plants that would make you sick if you ate them, but relatively few that would kill you. There's a list on the Royal Horticultural Society website.

I think it depends if the laburnum is a species plant (not sure what that means but these are probably older trees) or a newer one which will not have poisonous seeds.

NOPE. All laburnum seeds are highly poisonous IF EATEN AND THE SEED CRACKS OPEN
and that is a big if
for a start they taste utterly foul so only the most demented child would ever swallow one, and they would have to chew on it to make it lethal

We have a massive laburnum in our garden, no children harmed so far.

My only problem is that it has the temerity to be yellow, when I only permit white, pink and purple in my garden. Bastard.

The seeds taste foul ? I always imagined the did. Maybe I did try one when I was tiny.