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Visiting local nurseries with plants tagged and identified is probably the most efficient way to familiarize yourself with regional plant material. Also, tending your own garden as well as getting out in nature at various times in the season will provide firsthand experience on plant growth and habit.

Planting design software and databases are very poor options for full understanding and make for the weak knowledge we’re now seeing.

Hi Jack: Thanks for your thoughtful response. Visiting regional nurseries is a fantastic way to figure out what’s commonly available in your area. It’s important to pair observation of nursery stock with observation of established plants – your public gardens are a great resource for this practice. And the more time you can spend physically dealing with plants, the better!

I agree that you can’t expect software and databases to be very useful for education about plants and how they grow – however they’re a fantastic tool for more effectively managing the design and documentation process.

Very informative and useful article. Thank you so much for writing. This is a great idea.

Nice article with sound ideas. One tangent to Public Gardens are Cemeteries. It’s amazing how many of them function like a formal garden/park space.