>> Sigh, I once had a visitor ask me what the difference was between my petunias and the morning glories.

My neighbor who laid down heavy plastic and bark mulch to prevent any weeds or plants hired someone who thought azealeas and rohododenrons were the same thing: while looking at them. ???? Their plan was to chop out as many living things as possible, "to reduce maintenance".

I take some satisfaction that he used very fine pine bark mulch instead of coarse to "discourage" weeds. I think he will ENCOURAGE weeds even though the fine, peat-like mulch layer is only a few inches thick.

Weeeellll, Rick, I have been known to use plastic topped with gravel to keep the weeds from totally taking over my garden. And even then, it's still a major battle to keep ahead of the weeds. But we're surrounded by open fields just full of thistles and other nasty unpleasant stuff. Not to mention the alfalfa that keeps trying to encroach. But I have another reason to prefer the Latin names over common ones, and not just for plants. There is a particularly nasty malady that affects goats and pigs and probably various other critters. The proper medical name is Enterotoxemia. But the common name is "Overeating Disease." Sounds pretty innocuous, eh? If you want to avoid it, just don't overfeed your critters, right? WRONG! It's deadly and nearly totally avoidable (there's a vaccine). And it has nothing to do with "overfeeding." One of my neighbors raises pigs and he's convinced that you can kill a baby pig by feeding it too much. Uh, they're PIGs! Eating is what they do. Sigh.

But you use the plastic to protect YOUR plants.

For him, its cheaper than pouring concrete over everything. If he could have afforded to cut everything down, I think he would have.

One reason I dislike it is that where I am, weeds grow through it almost as easily as tyhey take root in the heavy clay to begin with. (Maybe the plastic is much too old and too shallow - I'm not sure.)

Anyway, picking shreds of plastic out of heavy clay is one of my tasks whenever I try to create a raised bed.

Found this popped up on the right side panel, and thought I'd weigh in.

I keep my personal database alphabetically by latin name, but I also have a 'cheat-sheet' cross-index listing the common name alphabetically followed by latin. I try to not use the cross-index unless I have a brain freeze -- but I've also been known to simply paw through the pages looking for the correct photo when both the latin and common name are dancing on the tip of my tongue...

I usually use the common name when talking with others, as they are more likely to know what I am talking about. I am also not totally confident in my ability to pronounce the latin names correctly. And I don't want to appear stuffy.

On garden web sites, I use latin name with cultivar if known, with the common name in parentheses, for clarity and to accommodate both teams.

At a nursery, I go armed with a specific list down to the cultivar, but also have the common name in the event the nursery person is not well-versed in latin. I've had a lot of "huh...??" moments quickly resolved by throwing out the common name.

Sigh, I once had someone ask me what the difference was between a petunia and a morning glory.

Uh oh. Just realized I'm repeating myself. Sigh again, memory is the second thing to go.......

The lout that my next door neighbor hired to butcher his yard couldn't tell an Azalea from a Rhododendron.

But at least he was pretty sure they were not weeds.

To be fair to the idiot, they were not in bloom at the time.

For ordering, keeping track of my plants, in forums, and that sort of thing, I use Latin. If I am talking to someone, likely common, just for the pronouncibility (spell check doesn't like that, hope you get the idea.)

I read this yesterday about the Sky Blue Aster and had to chuckle.
http://garden.org/thread/view_...

In a forum I mentioned I have Bee Balm, and someone asks me which one... Monarda fistulosa. Most Latin names, I copy/paste, but that one I can type up without looking. I can do a few others, as well, only because I referenced them so much.

Common names have gotten me too many times, not only bringing home the wrong thing, but uploading photos to the wrong plant.