In article , Sacha
writes
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

Well, only if you are wanting to translate the names as well as know
what is related to what.

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?"
"???" ;-)

I think it's also related to the other thing that puzzles me - how
(relatively) few gardeners have an interest in wild plants. After all, a
good proportion of our garden plants are simply the wild plants of
another country, and many of them are carefully bred good forms of our
own native plants. Knowledge of where the plant grows wild is a very
good indication of the care you need to give it in the garden.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"