The garden without labels

Original non-fiction-style practice text.

The garden has removed its plant labels to encourage visitors to look more closely. I understand the temptation. A name can become a small answer which stops a larger question. I have watched people photograph a label without looking at the flower it described.

But yesterday, a child asked me what a striking purple plant was called. I did not know, and there was no one nearby to ask. Our shared attention ended in an avoidable blank. A name would not have exhausted the plant; it might have given her somewhere to begin finding out more.

Bring the labels back, perhaps with better questions beside them. Curiosity and information do not need to be opposing gardening styles. A visitor can look at a petal and want to know its name in the same perfectly reasonable minute.

Assess the writer’s attitude towards removing all the plant labels. Use three details from the text to support your answer.