Caught poison ivy in my own garden at the greenway trial

I was clearing out some overgrown beds behind the community garden off Greenway Trail last month. Pulled what I thought was Virginia creeper for about 45 minutes without gloves. Woke up the next day with blisters all up my forearms and had to take three days off work. Now I keep a pair of heavy leather gloves tied to my belt loop every time I go near that area. Has anyone else had trouble telling poison ivy apart from lookalikes in your own yard?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_craig7d ago

Felt that pain deep in my bones. I've learned the hard way to always check for the "hairy vine" look on the stems, that's the dead giveaway for poison ivy.

stellat877d ago

Ugh seriously though! The gloves thing is a total game changer but here's what gets me - how long did it take you to realize the blisters were even poison ivy and not something else? I ask because I spent a whole weekend scratching my legs raw thinking it was just mosquito bites or some weird rash from the heat. Turned out I had been sitting in a patch of the stuff while taking a break from weeding. Did you figure it out right away or did it take a couple days to click? The delayed reaction is what really gets me, you think you escaped clean and then bam, three days later you're a mess.