While I agree it's a nice gesture to give warning when possible, I think for the most part it should be up to the cache finder to be aware of his surroundings and keep a sharp eye out, especially when in an area you are not accustomed to.

The cache mentioned in the opening post was hidden in February, so the cache hider could have been unaware of it's existence when it was hidden. It is also an area where the plant is common enough that the hider felt local cachers would notice it without warning. It could be that the hider didn't want to give the cache location away by mentioning it was hidden near the plants. Obviously, the hider could have edited the page after reading the logs if they so chose.

If cache hiders warned of every danger cache descriptions would be 6 pages long, especially if we considered that there might be visitors to the cache that have no idea of Maine's dangers. Every Maine cache would need a "Watch the ice in Winter" warning; Guard rail caches would need a "Watch out for moving traffic" warning; Light Pole caches would need a "Danger of Electrocution" Warning; Mountain caches would need a "Falling from the top of this mountain could be deadly" warning; Micro caches would need a "Danger of boring cache" warning (I just had to add some humor in there ).

Anyway, IMO it comes down to personal responsibility. If you are going somewhere where there are likely to be animals or plants or other dangers you are not used to, it is up to you to do some research so you an prevent harm.

So, simply stated, it's nice when cache hiders give warning, but it's safer to be informed.