a career in the green industry – and inspires you to keep digging deeper to learn more.
In closing, have fun, get dirty, learn lots, live long, play in the rain; and may your garden or your gardening career prosper.
Maria and Pam
W
A FEW WORDS about LATIN and COMMON NAMES
Being horticulturists, we understand the value of using scientific Latin names when it comes to talking about a specific plant species. There is one scientific Latin name assigned per plant species and that one name is recognized worldwide. No room for confusion. When talking to green industry professionals, we attempt to use the Latin name as often as possible, especially when ordering plants for a job or for growing in the nursery. This ensures that both parties are referring to the same plant.
Gailardia x grandiflora (blanketflower)
However, Garden-pedia is not only for people in the industry; it’s for everyone, including (maybe even especially) the gardening beginner. So, how to keep it simple enough and accurate enough, and not clutter the pages with too much scientific Latin? And why not just use common names all the time? Because sometimes one plant can have many common names, depending on the region of the country or world in which it is growing. There are a good number of plants that don’t even have a common name (and people make up common names as they go along, too!). Let us give you an example: Someone walks into the garden center and tells the clerk they want to purchase a red maple. Does the garden clerk sell them a red maple (Acer rubrum), or a crimson king red maple (Acer platanoides ‘Crimson King’), or even a Japanese red maple (Acer palmatum ‘Ruby Red’)? Clearly, common names don’t always get you to the plant you want. In this case, a little Latin is just what you need.
Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’ (cutleaf Japanese maple)
As good horticulturists, we know we should use scientific Latin names for all plants throughout this book. We wrestled (not literally!) with this issue for some time and this is what we have decided. For the purposes of this book, we will use the scientific Latin name as often as possible and as necessary for clarity, accompanied by the common name – e.g., Quercus alba (white oak) – especially when we are talking about only one or two plants. But if we have a whole list of plants within a term definition, we will use the name most often used by gardeners. Keep in mind this might be the Latin name or the common name. Note: Scientific Latin names are always written in italics and common names in regular font.
key
When a word is shown in color and boldface (e.g., perennial), it will have its own listing and definition elsewhere in the book (e.g., under “P”).
A
ABIOTIC to AXIL
ABIOTIC
A non-living organism.
ACCENT/SPECIMEN
Words used to describe a plant that is bold enough to stand on its own rather than part of a mass planting.
A good way to think of accent or specimen plants is as the star – the center focus – of your garden. These are plants that are strong and interesting enough to stand alone throughout the year. They often set the theme for the rest of the garden or landscape.
For example, Japanese maples often stand alone or as the main accent plant in a garden design. We would not see a row of such trees lining a drive. On the other hand, a common perennial, albeit beautiful, like a coneflower, would not stand well alone as the main focus of a garden – they do best as part of garden design and planted in multiples.
Montgomery blue spruce
ACCLIMATION
(See: Hardening Off)
ACIDIC/ALKALINE
(See: pH)
ACID-LOVING PLANTS
Plants that grow best with a soil pH around 5.0. (See: pH)
Blueberries
AERATE
To expose to air.
This term is typically used in reference to lawns, combined with the term “core.” Core aeration is recommended when soil is compact or there is a lot of thatch in the lawn. Core aeration is done with a machine (lawn aerator) that moves over the lawn and removes numerous small cores or plugs of soil. These cores of soil are left on the soil surface to break down. This practice helps to increase the amount of oxygen in the soil, which in turn increases the opportunity for healthy root growth.
AEROBIC/ANAEROBIC
Having oxygen (aerobic) or without oxygen (anaerobic).
Why is it important to know these two terms? For example, when it comes to composting, you need aerobic decomposition to occur in order for the compost process to proceed. It needs oxygen to do its work. You have an anaerobic situation with a lack of oxygen, like when the compost pile is too wet and composting shuts down and the pile begins to smell. The same when you have a bag full of wet grass clippings . . . well, you know the smell.
AGGREGATE
Clumps of varying sizes and shapes of primary soil particles.
The binding together of soil particles into aggregates provides soil structure. A soil with good structure is made up of aggregates of varying sizes that allow maximum space for air and water.
AGGRESSIVE
