Should've had a warning label

Hehe, always bring gloves!!

Good idea about the glue. I use gloves and tongs. I grew up around cactus and have lots of respect for even the teeny ones!

If any of you are planning a trip to SE Alaska and you're hiking in the forest, be careful what you choose as a handhold on the steep, slippery areas. There is a plant called Devil's Club http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/51534/ that his nasty spines all over it; leaves, stems, flowers, everywhere. I used to live up there and many visitors came back from a hike with a hand full of Devil's Club spines. If a plant's latin name contains the word horridum, you know it's bad.

At the last place I lived we had trouble keeping the neighborhood kids from playing the flower beds and I was so tempted to go find some stinging nettle and plant it between the flowers. (I know, I'm mean) It probably would not have been much of a selling point for the house though.

I'm always grabbing for handholds. Good to know!!
I wonder if the nettle would help to deter bunnies, probably not?

We planted CA native roses on one side of our pond to create a barrier - those things are THORNy!

Funny thing about the bunnies, I find loads of bunny poop under our Salvia apiana. Discussing this with our local native plant nursery staff, they wondered if the plants smell was helping them hide from owls, etc. The plant is beautiful, BTW. :-)

Having lived in Texas nearly my whole life, I wish I had a nickel for each thorn or glochid I've had stuck in fingers, arms, legs and such over the years....I'd probably be very rich! One of my favorite kinds of cactus is the Lace Cactus.

duct tape is a good glochid remover. i've used it countless times. we have a low growing stinging nettle here in florida and vinegar will take away the burn pretty fast. interesting thread! thanks.

I just opened this thread and as soon as I saw the pic of Polanisia and read angele's story I thought - has to be related to cleome! I have many cleomes in my garden; they are beautiful.....BUT: I can't stand their smell! (I'm one of those sensitive nose people) They smell somewhat like skunk to me. Because of the awful smell, I never pick them and I'm even really careful walking by them for fear of the least bruise causing the garden to smell!

Nettle does not affect animals with fur. Only us furless types.
We have not had bunnies here for years (due to preditors). We started making brush piles in the woods (rabbit-tat), recently we have seen 2. I was happy until I looked out and every small tree and bush has the bark chewed off all the way around. UGH. Little buggers.
I do like to see a balance of wildlife around though.

The foxes and coyotes took care of the rabbits here lol.
I too have been tempted to plant stinging nettles to deter kids from me gardens.
I am always afraid one day Boo will fall in the pond and i wanted to plant stuff that would stop him before he got there lol.

I adore the critters that visit my yard. I invite them by putting water out for them. A small part of my yard has a block wall around it with a garden gate. I've tried to explain to the critters that anything outside the gate is fair game for them but I'd prefer them to leave the plants inside the gate alone. Some of them aren't hearing me! :-)

Another stinky plant is the Buffalo Gourd or Coyote Melon (Cucurbita foetidissima).
The foliage gives off a fetid underarm odor. There is one growing right against the block wall separating my yard from a vacant lot. You don't have to touch it to release the smell. It fills the air. It really does smell just like a unbathed underarm on a hundred & twenty degree day. The first time I smelled it I literally sniffed my underarm because I was the only one around. It draws flies.
GAG!

Linda, I love the cactus flowers. Angele, you are too funny! I'm taking a trip to California so may get some pictures there. We are just now beginning to thaw out good up here. Juniper pollen is thick. Probably won't get up in the mountains here for another month yet.

Some of the catus that grandma grew would flower and we thought the barn cats had used the greenhouse as a littler box.
How can such a beautiful flower stink so bad?
Lol about the armpit odor. too funny.