(Music)
Atropa belladonna will kill you.
Datura will put you to sleep, forever.
Aconitum will kill you.
Laurel will produce cyanide and kill you.
(Music)
Every plant here in The Poison Garden is
poisonous, and has the ability to kill you.
My name's Trevor Jones, and I'm the Head Gardener of Alnwick Garden.
This plant is Giant hogweed.
It will get up to around about 8 ft high.
It's phototoxic, so will burn you skin,
and give you blisters for up to 7 years.
This garden is set in the royal garden
of the old castle in Northumberland, UK.
We have around about 95 plants,
and we're adding to the collection all the time.
This plant is Aconitum, or monkshood.
Wonderful blue flowers, but the whole of the plant is poisonous.
The berries, crushed up and fed to you will kill you.
The leaves themselves will kill you also,
as will the root and the stem.
We have to, obviously, maintain the garden,
so we have to tend the plants, and when we do that,
we have to be very careful of the way we operate,
so we have to cover some of our skin
when we deal with particularly dangerous plants.
This plant is Laurel, it produces cyanide,
and we all know what that will do to you.
So, it was the brainchild of the Dutchess,
the Dutchess of Northumberland,
so rather than having a herb garden,
she decided to create more interest,
and have a poison garden.
They are very, very common plants.
In fact, a lot of them are what we call "cottage garden" plants.
And they're grown in many people's gardens,
but people don't know how harmful they actually are.
This is Atropa belladonna.
Four berries are enough to kill a child.
People are intrigued by poisonous plants,
and often are very worried when they come out, because
many of them will be growing these plants at home, and they
don't realize the powerful impact plants
can have on us as as humans.
Is it something that you find fascinating?
Definitely.
Why?
It's a good way to get rid of your wife.
(Laughs)
Interview: My god! Trevor: I dunno
(Laughs)