On 24/2/07 21:55, in article , "BoyPete"
wrote:

I've lurked for ages, just posting occasionally. I do hope my pond
orientated posts don't annoy. My garden is about 20ft square, nearly half is
pond now. Most people here seem to be 'real' gardeners, something I'd love
to be if I had the room! I dream of retiring to a large old house with half
an acre..........yeah.....dream on. In the past, I've grown carrots, Swede,
peas, runner beans, lettuce etc, but until recently, especially sweet
corn......great picked and straight on the BBQ Now, I only have pots
Something which bugs me, is the use of the Latin names for plants. I
realise that if you are really into gardening, these things are important,
but to the likes of me........an interested wannabe, they are meaningless.
It would be nice if folk could call plants by their 'common' name perhaps
with the Latin in brackets? What do you think? Thanks for a great friendly
group.

The problem is Common names common to where? In UK they change from county
to county or even parish to parish so it's not helpful.
If the Latin names are used, they're recognised all over the world. That's
why they're used - for plantspeople and gardeners, it's the universal
language. I think it might be helpful to you to look at the Latin names and
then check out the common names which will be entirely different in every
corner of the planet.
To take one wild plant alone, I've seen it named here as 'goose grass',
'sticky willie' and 'cleavers', depending on the region the poster comes
from. Latin names are unequivocal if you're talking to someone in
Berkshire or Bareclona.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)