WEBVTT

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(Music)

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Atropa belladonna will kill you.

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Datura will put you to sleep, forever.

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Aconitum will kill you.

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Laurel will produce cyanide and kill you.

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(Music)

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Every plant here in The Poison Garden is

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poisonous, and has the ability to kill you.

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My name's Trevor Jones, and I'm the Head Gardener of Alnwick Garden.

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This plant is Giant hogweed.

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It will get up to around about 8 ft high.

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It's phototoxic, so will burn you skin,

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and give you blisters for up to 7 years.

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This garden is set in the royal garden of the
North castle

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in Northumberland, UK.

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We have around about 95 plants,

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and we're adding to the collection
all the time.

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This plant is Aconitum, or monkshood.

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Wonderful blue flowers, but the whole of
the plant is poisonous.

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The berries, crushed up and fed to 
you will kill you.

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The leaves themselves will kill you also,

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as will the root and the stem.

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We have to, obviously, maintain the garden,

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so we have to tend the plants, and when we
do that,

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we have to be very careful of the way we operate,

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so we have to cover some of our skin

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when we deal with particularly dangerous plants.

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This plant is Laurel, it produces cyanide,

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and we all know what that will do to you.

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So, it was the brainchild of the Dutchess,

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the Dutchess of Northumberland,

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so rather than having a herb garden,

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she decided to create more interest,

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and have a poison garden.

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They are very, very common plants.

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In fact, a lot of them are what we call
"cottage garden" plants.

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And they're grown in many people's gardens,

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but people don't know how harmful they 
actually are.

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This is Atropa belladonna.

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Four berries are enough to kill a child.

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People are intrigued by poisonous plants,

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and often are very worried when they
come out, because

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many of them will be growing these 
plants at home, and they

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don't realize the powerful impact
that's going

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to have on us as as humans.

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Is it something that you find fascinating?

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Definitely.

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Why?

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It's a good way to get rid of your life.

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(Laughs)

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My god!

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(Laughs)