The Poison Ivy - Poison Oak Blog

It has been an absolute rule: "Leaves of three, let them be." If a plant has more than three leaves (or leaflets) in a group, then it simply can not be poison ivy.

In spite of its generally tough-guy attitude, poison ivy is one of the first plants to give up and turn colors in the fall. Which makes early fall a great time to look for it. Often you can find trees, walls, or the ground itself covered with bright red, orange and yellow leaves.

We have been wondering for years, and still wonder: with so much terrrible poison oak throughout California, why are there no poison oak plant control services?

Here is an example of many California fire fighters running afoul of poison oak while fighting brush fires. You can watch the video, though you will need to work your way through layers of pop-up windows and a long sponsor video before the "real" video.