“There is a difference,” she informed me, “between horticulture and botany. Horticulture is where plants and humans intersect. It’s about how people cultivate and use plants. Botany is the study of the plants themselves, period. If you asked the question, ‘Are pansies annuals or perennials?,’ the answer would depend on whether you asked a botanist, or a horticulturist. A botanist would tell you they’re perennials, because they do actually live year round. But a horticulturist would tell you they’re annuals, because that’s how they’re USED – people plant them for their flowers, and use them as annuals. When the flowers have stopped and the greenery begins to fade, people tear them out and put something else in.”
This conversation fascinated me today, because I had never thought about this (hort vs. bot) in that way before.
Thoughts, anyone?
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88kate
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Tropyesa
