i would have agreed w/ this view two years ago, but i've gotten into california natives deeply since then. i have two medium-sized wholesale nurseries in the east bay and own one third of another one in sf. i grow thousands and thousands of plants each year and am constantly expermenting w/ new ones. i found that to get any reliable info about plants, i had to begin to use the latin names - i now know more of them than some botanists! i am quickly forgetting the common names - regrettably to a certain extent - and i find their use annoying sometimes because they vary so much regionally, but i will make a point of remembering the common names of the common species, but the latin names are essential if you want to delve deeply into this. it all depends on what you want and can handle right now.
pete veilleux
www.eastbaywilds.com
email:
pete@eastbaywilds.com
tele: 510.409.5858
Bay Natives
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