On 11/11/05 12:15, in article , "Kay"
wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes

But not
caring what family a plant falls into is, I would suggest, because people
care more what they look like or how they'll do in that awkward shay corner
of their garden, than anything else.

That's what is so silly! Knowing where a plant a plant fits in to a
taxonomy gives you all sorts of clues as to what it looks like, what
conditions it will like, and so on. It's so much less of a burden on the
memory to remember the exceptions than remembering all these details for
each plant individually.

Well yes - and no. To get the full benefit of that, I suppose people would
have to have a certain competence with Latin and how many people get a
classical education these days?! I think that people like yourself who have
a real interest in the matter or start young and build up a knowledge base
find it an obvious tool but not those who come to gardening later in life
and just want something "tall and yellow". "Cephalaria gigantica, madam?"
"???" ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)