Abiotic: A non-living organism.

Acid: A sour substance or acid has a pH below 7.0.

Acidic soil: The pH scale is logarithmic, from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. Soil with a pH level below 7 is acidic. The lower the pH, the more acidic it is. Acidic soil is also referred to as sour soil.

Acid Rain: Rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental harm, typically to forests and lakes. The main cause is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels, the waste gases from which contain sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which combine with atmospheric water to form acids.

Achene: Dry, one-seeded fruit lacking special seams that split to release the seed. The seed coat is attached to the thin, dry ovary wall (husk) by a short stalk, so that the seed is easily freed from the husk, as in buckwheat.

Aeration:Supplying soil and roots with air or oxygen.

Aerobic: With oxyg\en. Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen.

Aeroponics: Growing plants by misting roots suspended in air.

Agamospermy: Asexual reproduction in which seeds are produced from unfertilized ovules.

Aeration: Refers to the amount of air space in soil. Sandy soils have greatest aeration; heavy clay soils have the least; well-aerated soils are key to growing healthy plants so that roots can breathe.

Aggregate: Clumps of inorganic material of varying size.

Aggressive: Referring to a plant's active growth behavior.

Agriculture: The art and science of cultivating land for production of food.

Akaline: Refers to soil with high ph; any pH over 7.0 is considered alkaline.

Alkaline soil: ThepH scale is logarithmic, from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. Soil with a pH level above 7 is alkaline. The higher the pH, the more alkaline it is. Alkaline soil is also referred to as basic soil.

All-America Selection (AAS): Plants that have been awarded distinction by a panel of judges for exceptional performance for disease or pest resistance, novel forms, earliness to bloom, great harvest yields, and other desirable qualities; winners have performed well in trial gardens throughout the United States and the program has been giving awards annually since 1932.

Allée: Former path or lane. The most formal allées are rows of “pleached” trees that have been trained to grow within a precise vertical plane, similar to a sheared hedge. Often, allée trees are pollarded (cut back to the same point every winter) to control their size and to enhance the sense of formality.

.Allelopathic: Allelopathic is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms.

All-Purpose Fertilizer: A balanced blend of N-P-K; all purpose fertilizer is used by most growers.

Alternate: Horticulturally speaking, alternate refers to leaves that are arranged on the stem in alternating fashion.

Anaerobic: Without oxygen. Relating to, requiring, involving the absence of free oxygen

Antiphlogistic: A substance that functions to relieve inflammation and fever.

Amendment: Fortifying soil by adding organic or mineral substances in order to improve texture, nutrient content or biological activity.

Angiosperm: A flowering plant whose seeds are housed within an ovary.

Annuals: Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle (from germination to seed) in a single growing season. Basil is an example of an annual.

Anther: The part of a stamen that contains the pollen.

Anthocyanins: Water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue depending on the pH.

Antipyretics: From the Greek anti, against, and pyreticus, pertaining to fever, are substances that reduce fever. Antipyretics cause the hypothalamus to override an interleukin-induced increase in temperature.

Apetalous: A flower having no pedal, such as a Linderasp.

Apomixis: Asexual reproduction in plants, in particular agamospermy.

Arbor: An arbor serves as a portal into a garden room, a transition point to tell a visitor it’s time to pause, to change perspective. Training vines to cover the arbor brings garden life to another dimension. There are so many reasons to want to find the perfect spot in your garden to add an arbor.

Arborist: An professional trained in the art and science of planting, caring for, and maintaining individual trees.

Arching: As in arching branches--have the curved shape of an arch.

Aril: Fleshy outgrowth that partially or completely surrounds the seed in some plants. Ex. the berry-like fruit on an English Yew.

ArchiTorture: This is my new favorite word. There are many definitions, but I'm defining it for the hobby gardeners. When a garden has a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The garden becomes disconnected. Brick edging, cinderblock raised beds, plastic pots. In design, consistency is key. Learn when enough is enough.

Aromatic: Having a pleasing scent from a plant or plant parts.

Ascending: Describes an upright growth habit.

Asexual: Propagation without pollination.

Asymmetrical Flower: An irregular flower, bilaterally but to radially symmetrical

Atmospheric Deposits: Refers to the phenomenon through which pollutants, including gases and particles, are deposited from the atmosphere in the form of dust or in precipitation, ultimately entering freshwater systems. Remember Acid Rain?

Auricles: In botany, an auricle is a small ear-like projection from the base of a leaf or petal.

Auxin: Classification of plant hormones; auxins are responsible for foliage and root elongation.

Axil: The upper angle between the leaf and stem.

Axillary Bud:A bud that grows from the axil of a leaf and may develop into a branch or flower cluster.
Back to Top

B

Backcross:The crossing of a hybrid with one of its parents.

Bacteria:Very small, one-celled organisms.

B & B or Balled and Burlapped: Digging a round root ball and held intact by a large piece of burlap. This is then held in place with wire or twine.

Banding: A method of placing fertilizer in a narrow strip either on the soil surface or below it, typically near the root zone of plants. Banding is typically done at or prior to planting time as a starter fertilizer for young transplants.

Banner:The upper petal of a papilionaceous flowers, as in the Leguminosae(Pea family).

Bare Root: Plants sold without soil around the roots. Many roses come bare root as do asparagus.

Basal:Arising from the base or lower part of a plant, basal leaves.

Bed: The terms garden bed and garden border are often used interchangeable; but I make the distinction of where the garden plot is placed in the garden. A garden bed is place to plant that typically doesn't have a backside to it, such as an island bed.

Bedding Plants: Bedding plants typically refer to plants that are produced and sold for mass plantings in a flower bed.

Beneficial Insect: Insects that are benefitial to have in the garden and landscape, largely because they're predators of harmful pests; ladybugs and praying mantis are widely recognized as beneficial insects.

Berry: The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single flower and containing one ovary. Grapes and avocados are two common examples. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels. The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy exceptions, such as peppers, that have air rather than pulp around their seeds.

Bi:Twice, bipinnate, biternate.

Biennial:Biennials are plants that complete their life cycle in two years. The first year they grow only leaves; the second year they bloom, set seed and die are considered biennials. Parsley is an example of a biennial.

Bifid: Cleft into two lobes, usually at the apex, a bifid leaf.

Biodegradable: A material that is able to decompose or break down through natural bacterial or fungal action, substances made of organic matter are biodegradable.

Biowaste/Biomass: Biowaste is a form of biomass. It is waste material capable of decomposing under anaerobic or aerobic conditions.

Bird Netting: A lightweight, usually plastic net that’s used to protect ripening crops, strawberries and blueberries, from foraging birds, rodents, and other critters. Bee Better doesn't recommend its use in the garden since birds often are caught in the netting and die.

Black Gold: A gardening term often used to describe ideal loam soil, or a finished form of compost; loamy soil rich in organic matter.

Blade:The expanded part of a leaf or petal.

Bloom: A flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty.

Bloom:A pale, powdery, usually was,coating on leaves and other organs.

Blanching: During growing, blanching is a technique used to shade plant parts from sunlight to prevent greening; it’s used when growing cauliflower to keep heads white (the process involves using a clothespin or twine to hold leaves over maturing heads); it’s also used with leeks; in this case, soil is heaped against stems to produce the classic white form.

Blossom Drop: The common name when flowers form then drop without forming fruit or form small fruit that drop; most tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, will drop blossoms when daytime temperatures are above 90 ºF and/or nighttime temperatures are above 75 ºF; blossoms will also drop when night temperatures drop below 55 ºF

Blossom-end Rot:A blemish that causes rot (most often in tomatoes and peppers) on the blossom-end of the fruit, (opposite the stem end); usually the result of lack of calcium available in the soil or inconsistent water levels

Bolt: Term used to describe a plant that has gone to seed prematurely.

Bonsai: A very short or dwarfed plant.

Border: A garden border typically refers to garden space that has a backdrop, and borders the property.

Bousquet: Bousquet's are traditionally paved with gravel, as the feature predate the invention of the lawnmower and since the maintenance of turf under trees is demanding. The shade of bousquets flanking a parterre affords both relief from the sunny glare and the pleasure of surveying sunlit space from shade, another Achaemenid invention. The Achaemenid Empire, c. 550–330 BC,, also called the First Persian Empire.

Botany: The scientific study of plants.

Bract :In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Good examples of bracts are the modified leaves of the poinsettia and hellebore.

Bramble: A shrub with thorns that is in the rose family, such as blackberries and raspberries.

Breaker Stage: Refers to a stage of ripening in tomatoes when the fruit is first starting to show hints of mature color (beyond green.) Tomatoes picked picked at the breaker stage will continue to color and ripen after picking, if placed in a cool, dry place out of direct sun.

Browns: Aompost ingredient that is rich in carbon; sometimes abbreviated “C”; typically, browns are dry materials, such as fallen leaves, pine needles, hay, straw, sawdust, shredded paper, newspaper, cardboard; good compost contains a ratio of 3 parts browns to 1 part greens.

Bryology: From the Green Bryon, meaning a moss or a liverwort. Bryology is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts, and hornworts.)

Bt: Abbreviated for Bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring soil bacterium used to kill certain insect pests; Bt produces proteins that react with cells in the guts of certain insects, paralyzing the insect digestive system so that it stops feeding and dies of starvation; Bt doesn’t kill beneficial insects; different strains of Bt affect specific insects, including caterpillars, fungus gnats, and Colorado potato beetles; insects must eat the Bt to be affected, so the insects will still be active for a short while after applying, as it does not kill instantly after spraying; Bt comes in a liquid or powder that’s mixed with water and sprayed onto plants; sunlight breaks it down in about 7 days, although residual effect varies by strain

Bract: A modified or reduced leaf, often associated with a flower or inflorescence.

Breathe: Roots draw in or breathe oxygen, stomata draw in or breathe carbon dioxide.

Broadcast: To spread fertilizer over a large growing area.

Broad Spectrum: Pesticides that affect a wide variety of pest. No such pesticide is used in Helen's Haven.

Broadleaved Evergreens: A plant with leaves year-round.

Botanical Latin

Bud: An embryonic shoot that normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. The nickname of my oldest child.

Bud Break :When the buds break open after a period of dormancy.

Bud Blight: A withering condition that attacks flower buds.

Budding: Budding is a term with two meaning--one for propagation and the other for what a plant naturally does as it emerges from the cold of winter.

Buffering: The ability of a substance to reduce shock and cushion against pH fluctuations.

Bulb: Not all bulb are the same. There are five types of bulbs falling under that title: true bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes, and tuberous roots. It’s a good idea to understand there are differences (see definitions), but it’s also OK to call them all bulbs. Or at least I think so. True bulbs contain a fully formed plant. Daffodils, tulips, lilies, grape hyacinths, and amaryllis are all true bulbs. If you slice open a daffodil vertically, you will find the entire embryonic daffodil—flower, stem, leaves, and roots—ready to spring forth once the time is right. True bulbs can be annuals or perennials.

Bulbil: A small bulblike structure found in the axil of a leaf or flowers, as in Yucca.

Bush Variety: A compact form of a plant that yields full-size fruit, but typically less fruit than the full-size plant over the course of the growing season. Bush varieties are ideal for growing in small gardens or containers; bush tomatoes are typically determinate.

Butterfly Cycle: The butterfly life cycle goes from egg, to caterpillar, to chrysalis, and finally the full-fledged butterfly. Butterflies feed on specific host plants while in the caterpillar (or larvae) stage. Adult butterflies will sip nectar to provide energy

Buzz pollination: Also referred to as sonication, is a technique used by some bees, such as solitary bees,Andrena carantonic, bubble bees, Bombus impatiens, and carpenter bees, Xylocopa virginica, to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers. Through buzz pollination, these bees are able to shake pollen from a number of flowers that honeybees can’t access.Back to Top

C

Calyx:The calyx is outer whorl of protective leaves around the base of the flowers.

Cambium: Tissue in the plant that produces new cells.

Campanulate:Bell shaped, a campanulate corolla.

Cane: A hollow or pithy jointed, wood stem.

Capsule:A dry, dehiscent fruit composed of two or more carpels.

Carbon:

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778): Carl Linnaeus, Father of Taxonomic Botany

Carnivorous Plant: A plant that attracts and consumes insects.

Carpel: One of the seed-bearing units of the pistil or ovary.

Carbohydrate: Neutral compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Sugar, starch and cellulose are carbohydrates.

Carbon: The chemical element of atomic number 6, a nonmetal which has two main forms (diamond and graphite) and which also occurs in impure form in charcoal, soot, and coal.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2): A colorless, odorless, tasteless gas in the air necessary for plant life and biomass accumulation.

Cardenolides: A type of steroid. Many plants contain derivatives, collectively known as cardenolides. Most commonly know as the toxin in monarch butterflies, consumed at the larvae stage.

Carpel: Carpel is one of the leaflike, seed-bearing structures that constitute the innermost whorl of a flower. One or more carpels make up the pistil. Fertilization of an egg within a carpel by a pollen grain from another flower results in seed development within the carpel.

Cauliflory: Cauliflory is the botanical term referring to plants which flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks rather than from new growth and shoots.

Caustic: Capable of destroying, killing or eating away by chemical activity.

Cell:The base structural unit that plants are made of; cells contain a nucleus, that houses it's DNA.

Cellulose: A complex carbohydrate that stiffens a plant tissue: tough stems contain cellulose.

Ceraunophile: A person who loves lightening and thunder. (Me.)

Ciliate: Fringed with marginal hairs.

Cincinnus:A one-sided scorpioid cyme.

Clasping: Partly or completely surrounding the stem, a clasping leaf.

Claw: The narrowed,basal part of a petal

Chalkbrood: A mycosis (a disease caused by a fungus), which affects bee brood. It is an infectious disease of the larvae, and is caused by a fungus called Ascosphaera apis.

Cleft: Cut halfway or less into lobes.Terms such as cleft, dissected, divided, and lobed all have precise meanings but are often used quite loosely.

Chelate: Combining nutrients in an atomic ring that is easy for plants to absorb.

Chimera: A single organism composed of cells from different zygotes. This can result in male and female organs, two blood types, or subtle variations in form.

Chitin: A tough, semitransparent substance that is the main component of the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as the shells of crustaceans and the outer coverings of insects. Chitin is also found in the cell walls of certain fungi and algae. Chemically, it is a nitrogenous polysaccharide (a carbohydrate).

Chitting: A method of preparing potatoes or other tubers for planting. The seed potatoes are placed in a tray (often in egg cartons) in a light and cool place. All but three or four of the "eyes" (sprouting parts) of the potato are removed, leaving the strongest growths only.

Clone: A vegetatively propagated plant genetically identical to its parent.

Chlorine: Chemical used to purify water.

Chlorophyll: Green coloring matter of leaves and plants, essential to the production of carbohydrates by photosynthesis.

Chloroplast: Containing chlorophyll.

Chlorosis: The condition of a sick plant with yellowing leaves due to inadequate formation of chlorophyll chlorosis is caused by nutrient deficiency, usually iron or imbalanced pH.

Chlorotic Foliage: A condition in which the leaves of a plant turn yellow is called chlorotic foliage. This is usually caused by an iron deficiency in the soil or lack of oxygen to the roots due to over watering.

Chrysalis: The hard shelled pupa of a butterfly.

Clay: Soil made of very fine organic mineral particles, clay is not suitable for container gardening, but works very well in the garden bed when amended with organic matter. A country and western turned pollution in NC

Cleistogamy: A type of automatic self-pollination. Certain plants can propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers. Especially well known in peanuts, peas, and beans. This behavior is most widespread in the grass family.

Climate: The average condition of the weather in a garden room or outdoors.

Cloche: A bell-snapped glass cover that is placed over a seedling in the early season to protect from cold temperatures and to encourage growth.

Cole Crops: Any plant belonging to the mustard (cabbage) family, including cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, and turnip Cole crops thrive in cool seasons

Cold-Tender Annuals: Plants that are typically killed by freezing temperatures.

Clone: An identical reproduction of the parent plant.

Cloy: Disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment.

Coir: A fiber that is extracted from the husk of coconuts, and used a liner for hanging pots, window boxes, etc. to keep potting soil in place.

Cold Frame: a four-sided frame of boards with a removable glass or plastic top. The frame is placed on the ground and is used to house, protect, and harden off seedlings and small plants, without artificial heat.

Cold-hardy: Cold-hardy refers to zone-specific perennial flowers, shrubs, and trees that can survive cold and/or subfreezing temperatures and return for another growing season.

Cold snap: A cold snap is a sudden drop in temperature, usually during the spring, and may cause damage to already blooming and leafing plants.

Color Tracer: A coloring agent added to many commercial fertilizers, so the horticulturist knows there is fertilizer in the solution.

Column: The fused stamina tube of the Malvaceae(Mallow family). Part of the corolla in Asclepiasand Tricyrtis.

Compacton: Soil condition that results from tightly packing soil; compacted soil allows for only marginal aeration and root penetration.

Companion plant: A companion plant,is a plant that goes well with another in terms of height, texture, color, or fragrance. This also can refer to two plants that benefit each other in terms of health, such as keeping insects away. A good example of companion plants is tomatoes and marigolds, with the marigolds reducing cutworms populations that attack tomatoes.

Compost: Compost, also called humus, is a soil conditioner made up of partly decayed organic material, usually consisting of plant materials such as leave and pine needles, plus manure and soil.

Compost Tea: Authentic Haven Brand Moo Poo is my go-to organic tea fertilizer.

Composting, Thermophilic Composting: Uses heat-loving bacteria to break down biological waste, Composting,

Composting, Vermiculture Composting: The cultivation of annelid worms (as earthworms or bloodworms) especially for use in composting. This is a great way to recycle old food-scraps into usable fertilizer. While thermophilic composting is slightly more sterile, the advantage to vermicomposting is that it is more stable than thermophilic composting, and the product is slightly more potent.

Compound Leaf: A leaf composed of two or more leaflets, pinnately compound when the leaflets arise from the end of a common petiole.

Copse:

Cone: The conical fruit of pines, firs, and cedars.

Conical: Describes the shape of a tree where the base is the widest point of the plant and it gradually becomes more narrow at the top.

Container Garden: Planting fruits, herbs, pollintor plants, etc in pots instead of in the ground or raised bed.

Conifer: A group of cone-bearing plants.

Convolute: Rolled up lengthwise, with one edge inside the others.

Cool-season crops: Plants that tribe during cooler temperatures.

Cool-season grasses: Cool-season grasses are those grasses actively growing when its cool, and its green in the summer, as well as, the winter. Common cool-season grasses include fescues, bent grass, and bluegrass. Cool-season grasses tend to flourish in the spring after breaking winter dormancy and in early fall, when temperatures moderate and droughts and heat waves are typically behind us.

Cordate: Heart shaped as applied to leaf blades or bases.

Core: The transformer in the ballast is referred to as the core in hid lighting systems.

Corolla: The petals of a flower are called the corolla.Cordate: Heart shaped as applied to leaf blades or bases.

Corm: Corms are similar to true bulbs, in that they contain a stem base, but they do not hold the entire baby plant. The roots growing from a basal plate are located on the bottom of the corm. (The basal plate is the base area of the bulb.) The growth point is located on the top of the corm. A corm only lasts for a single season, but a new corm will form on top of the old. Plus, “cormels” are also produced, forming around the base of the corm’s basal plate. Popular corms include gladiolas and crocus.

Corona: A circular appendage or group of appendages between the corolla and the stamens, as in Asclepias.

Corymb: A flat-topped or convex, indeterminate inflorescence.

Cation-exchange Capacity: A measure of how many cations can be retained on soil particle surfaces. Negative charges on the surfaces of soil particles bind positively-charged atoms or molecules, but allow these to exchange with other positively charged particles in the surrounding soil water.

Cottage Garden: A Cottage Garden is a style of garden that is free-flowing and filled with flowers.

Cotyledon: Energy storage components of a seed that feed the plant before the emergence of its first true leaves.

Cover Crop: A crop that is planted by gardeners to improve soil health.

Cracking: When the skins of fruits, such as tomatoes, split or crack from a large fluctuation in water intake; often due to inconsistent watering or after rainy spells

Crack-Resistant: Vegetable or fruit whose skin isn’t prone to crack easily; cracking typically happens following a quick supply of lots of rain or watering, because the plant is stressed from taking up water faster than the skin can expand; it’s most often used in reference to tomatoes; cabbages tomatoes; cabbagesare referred to as split-resistan

Crenate: With obtuse or rounded teeth which either point forwards or are perpendicular to the margin.

Crenulate: With small, rounded teeth.

Crepe Murder: Crepe Murder is a copy-cat crime of improper pruning of Lagerstroemia spp.

Crisped: Irregularly ruffed along the margin.

Cross-pollinate: Pollinating two plants having different ancestry.

Crop Rotation: The practice of growing a succession of different crops on the same land in order to deter weeds, pests, and diseases.

Crotch: Theareaofatreeatwhichamainbranchjoinsthetrunk.

Crown: The part of a herbaceous perennial at or just below the soil level where the roots converge to form woody tissue from which the buds for new stems grow. The top of the head of a tree.

Cubic Foot: Volume measurement in feet: L" x W" x H" / 1728" = CuFt

Cruciform: Cross shaped, as in the flowers of theCruciferae (Mustard family).

Cucurbit: A plant belonging to the plant family Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family; includes squashes, watermelons, cantaloupe, and gourds.

Culinary (As In Herbs): Referring to plant crops used in cooking.

Cut-And-Come Again Harvest: A harvest method used with leafy crops where you cut off the entire plant, when plants reach 3 to 6 inches tall, leaving a half-inch stub; plants re-sprout to yield more harvests later; with most greens, you can anticipate three to four harvests with this method; good crops for this method include leaf lettuce, arugula, cilantro, parsley, and turnip and mustard greens.

Cutworm Collar: A barrier, such as a strip of aluminum foil, placed around the base of a seedling at the soil to prevent cutworms from reaching and injuring young stems.

Cultivar: A cultivated variety from a plant that grows naturally in the wild. A Nativar is a term catching on to refer to a cultivated regional native. In common garden jargon, these are not popular terms.

Culture: The basic needs and conditions that a plant requires in order to thrive.

Curb Appeal: Curb Appeal.

Cutting Garden: Growing a garden to routinely cut the flowers to enjoy indoors.

Cutting Propagation: Propagation by cuttings is taking a piece (cutting), either a stem or root section, of a plant and transplanting it.

Cyathium (Cyathia): The unit of inflorescence in Euphorbia, which includes one female and several male flowers, and other structures, surrounded by small brats.

Cymes: A broad, flat-topped inflorescence in which the central flower is the first to open.

Dampling-off: Disease that attacks young seedlings and cuttings causing stem to rot at base.

Day-Length: The measure of daylight hours within one day; day-length is longer in the summer and shorter in fall and winter in the North Hemisphere.

Day-Neutral: Refers to plants that mature or flower regardless of the length day; some plants, like onions, need either short days or long days to trigger maturity, but day-neutral plants don’t differentiate.

Days to Maturity or Harvest: The length of tim from when the seed germinates to the harvesting.

Dead-heading: Dead-heading is cutting off the spent flower heads on plants after they have bloomed.

Dead-leafing: Dead-leaving is removing the leaf die-back or cutting off unattractive plant leaves.

Dead Spot: An area of your lawn or on a plant this is dead.

Deep watering: Thoroughly soaking a plant so the roots get a good soaking is referred to as deep watering.

Deer Resistant: Deer resistant plants are those that are less likely to be eaten. But, if a deer is hungry enough, they will eat anything. Wildlife browsing habits change from region to region and season to season. Environmental conditions such as droughts, fires or development can have dramatic and unpredictable effects on wildlife feeding habits. Animals are more likely to eat tender new growth. Younger animals are more likely to taste a new plant in a garden than mature animals.

Deplete: Exhaust soil of nutrients, making it infertile

Dessicatte: Cause to dry up. Insecticidal soap desiccates its victims.

Deciduous: Plants that drop all their leaves at the end of a growing season.

Decussate: In botany, leaves cross or intersect each other or in whorls of three.

Soil Degradation: The decline in soil condition caused by its improper use or poor management, usually for agricultural, industrial, and even urban purposes. It is a serious environmental problem. We need to avoid soil degradation is crucial to our well-being.

Depurative: Herbs considered to have purifying and detoxifying effects.

Determinate: Referring to tomatoes where growth of the plant is limited.

Detoxifying soil: To remove a toxic substance or the effects of such a substance from the soil.

Diapause: The state of suspended development of the reproductive organs.

Dibbler: A simple tool used by gardeners to poke a hole in the ground for planting.

Digging Fork: A digging tool with four tines used to lift and aerate soil, blend amendments into soil, or harvest potatoes, onions, or leeks. Sometimes called a spading or garden fork

Dimorphic: Occurring in or representing two distinct forms.

Dioecious: Having distinct male and female organs on different plants within the same species.

Direct Sow: Planting seeds directly onto the ground.

Disease: Any abnormal condition in a plant that interferes with its growing processes.

Disease Resistant: Referring to how well a plant either resists or tolerates pests.

Dorment: A plant in an inactive growth state.

Dorsal: The dorsal (from Latin dorsum, meaning back) surface of an organism refers to the back, or upper side, of an organism. If talking about the butterfly, the dorsal sideis the top. The ventral (from Latin venter, meaning belly) surface refers to the front, or lower side, of an organism.

Double Digging: I do not practice this technique anymore. First dig 18 inches, set it aside. Then dig 18 inches more.

Drainage: Way to empty soil of excess water: with good drainage, water passes through soil evenly.

Drift: A strategic grouping of plants in the landscape forming a drift.

Dripline: A line around a plant directly under its outermost branch tips: roots seldom grow beyond the drip line.

Drip System: A very efficient watering system that employs a main hose with small water emi1ters.

Drought Tolerant: A plant that can withstand longer periods of time without irrigation or precipitation.

Drupe: A fleshy fruit, with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed. Examples are plum, cherry, almond, or olive.

Dwarf: A smaller variety of a plant.

Early Variety: A plant that matures earlier than typical for its type and delivers an early harvest; early varieties are ideal for planting in late summer to yield a fall crop; early tomato varieties include 'Better Bush', 'Bush Early Girl', 'Big Beef', and 'Early Girl'.

Earthing: The process of absorbing the Earth's free flowing electrons from its surface through the soles of ones feet.

Eclose: When an insect merges as an adult from the pupa or as a larva from the egg.

Ecosystem: A comunnity of animals, plants, and microorganisms.

Ectothermic: Any cold-blooded animal; an animal who regulate body temperature through external sources, such as sunlight, a heated rock surface, or viguously vibrating their flight muscles, in case of bees.

Edging: Edging.

Edging Plant: Refers to a plant that is low growing and can be used along the edges of planting beds or containers; because it has a short stature, an edging plant won’t hide mid-size and taller plants that are planted behind it such as strawberries, sweet marjoram, sedums,and thyme.

Female Flower: A flower that has only female parts; many vegetables have flowers that contain both male and female parts within the same flower, but cucurbits such a s smash, cucumber, cantaloupe, and watermelon have separate male and female flowers, and pollen must be transferred from the male flower to female flowers by a pollinator.

Epicormic buds: These buds lie dormant beneath the bark, their growth suppressed by hormones from active shoots higher up the plant..

Erosion: The wearing down of materials, such as moving water, rain and wind.

Espalier: The practice of pruning a plant to grow in a single plane.

Everbearing: A description used for strawberries multiple times (seeming continuous) throughout summer.

Exfoliating: When the bark of a tree or shrub has a peeling pattern. Crape Myrtles are a classic example.

Equinox: The point at which the sun crosses the equator and day and night are each 12 hours long; the equinox occurs twice a year, in spring and fall.
Back to Top

F1 hybrid: A F1 hybrid is when two pure lines are crossed, the plant resulting from their seeds is an F1 hybrid.

Fairy Garden: A garden in miniature. The design includes dwarf or small plants and to scale accents to give the illusion that fairies occupy the garden.

Fairy Ring: A naturally occurring ring of mushrooms.

Fast-draining: Sandy, gravelly, or light-textured loam soils tend to be fast-draining soils that allows water to pass through quickly, and doesn’t stay wet for an extended period of times.

Fastigiate: A tree's growth habit where the branches of the plant are erect and parallel to the trunk.

Feed: Deliver nutrient to the plant via roots or foliage.

Female: Pistillate, ovule, seed-producing.

Fertilizer: The three top nutrients needed in the soil NPK: Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium

Fertilizer Burn: Over fertilization: first leaf tips burn (turn brown) then the leaves curl.

Fibrous Roots: A highly branched root system that occupies a large volume of soil around the plant's base.

Fish Emulsion: A liquid fertilizer created from byproducts of fish oil and fish meal. Fish emulsion comes as a concentrate that you dilute with water and apply to foliage. Fish emulsion has a high nitrogen content, which makes it a good choice for leafy greens, like broccoli or Swiss chard, but all plants respond to it; it can have a fishy smell, but you can purchase types with less odor.

Flat: Shallow, three inch deep container, often 18 by 24 or 10 by 20 inches with good drainage, used to start seedlings or cuttings.

Filtering: Soil acts as a filter to protect the quality of water, air, and other resources. Toxic compounds or excess nutrients can be degraded or otherwise made unavailable to plants and animals.

Floating Row Cover: A light- and water-transmitting polypropylene fabric that’s placed over plants (either directly or using a structure to shield them from cold, birds, and insects or diseases spread by insects. Row cover fabrics protect plants from cold and wind in early spring to allow for earlier planting, and they provide shade for plants and soil in hot regions. Row covers come in different thicknesses for use in different seasons; lightweight fabrics work well in summer heat; heavier fabrics can protect plants against varying levels of cold; also called row cover or garden fabric

Floriculture: The science of cultivating flowers or flowering plants.

Foilar Feeding: Misting fertilizer solution which is absorbed by lilt foliage. Best to do when first turning on your lights.

Foliage: The leaves or more generally, the green part of a plant.

Forb: An herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush.) The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory

Foundation Plant: A plant used to hide the foundation of a home.

Fragrant: Having a pleasing scent from a plant or plant parts.

Fragrant Garden: A fragrant garden is designed around fragrance. A fragrant garden can become a place to spend the evening with a glass of wine. The fragrance garden could also serve as your cutting garden, allowing you to bring these flowers inside to enjoy. Plant where the scent can be approached most--under a window, near the back patio, or the path leading to the front porch.

Frost Tolerant: A plant that can withstand a light frost and survive.

Frost Date: The dates designated by geographic location to determine the average first and last frost dates an area experiences. These dates are used as a guideline to determine a “safe” target planting date after the last frost of spring or before the first frost of fall.

Fruit Set or Setting Fruit: Initiation of fruit growth; pollination by wind or pollinators is required for fruit set

Fungus (pluralFungi): A lower plant lacking chlorophyll which may attack green plants--mold, rust, mildew yeasts, moulds, and mushrooms are types of fungi. The fungi are a separate kingdom of living things, different from animals and plants. Fungi have cells with nuclei. Their cell walls contain chitin, unlike the cell walls of plants, which contain cellulose.

Fungicide: Fungi result in plant mold, rot, or even disease. Fungicides help to control fungi before they become one of those serious problems. Fungicides are either protectants or eradicants. A protectant fungicide is applied before a fungus is evident, essentially as a preventive measure. Fruit and vegetable crops are commonly treated with protectants. An eradicantis applied directly to a fungus and usually is needed when a protectant was not applied. Eradicants are useful, for instance, to stop a disease in its tracks in a fruit tree orchard where some of the trees suffer from the disease.

Furrow: A narrow groove or row made in soil for planting seed or bulbs, such as onions and garlic.

Gall: An abnormal swelling of plant tissue, caused by injury or by parasitic organisms such as insects, mites, nematodes, and bacteria. Parasites stimulate the production of galls by secreting chemical irritants on or in the plant tissue.

Garden:A garden is anything you want it to be.Create your style and a place that is a true expression of who you are.

Garden Conservancy: Garden Conservancy.

Gazebo: A gazebo is a structure, either freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides, to provide shade, shelter, or as an ornamental feature in a landscape.

Gene: Part or a chromosome that influences the development of plant; genes are inherited through sexual propagation. Genetic make up the sit of genes inherited from parent plants. Also, my neighbor.

Genus: A hierarchical level in plant naming. Genus comes below family and before species.

Geotropism: The effect that gravity has on plants.

Germination: The transformation process of a seed developing into a young plant.

Girdling: The removal of bark from around the entire circumference of a branch or trunk of a tree.

Girth: The size of something measured around the middle. When measuring a tree, it's typically measured at check height.

Glabrous: Lacking hairs, of a surface smooth, without pubescence of any kind.

Glaucous: The pale grey or bluish green/gray, like the plum or the Cabbage-leaf.

Globe-Shaped: A round shape, usually in reference to a fruit or vegetable description.

GMO And Genetically Engineered: The term genetically modified organism, or GMO, refers to plants produced through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering uses molecular biology techniques to introduce new genes, or to eliminate or rearrange specific genes, in a plant (or any organism) to achieve desired traits. In short, it describes a biologically altered and cross-bred organism, usually by insertion (from another organism) of a gene that carries the desired traits via the process of genetic engineering, which is different from traditional crossing, or hybridization.

Graft: A type of propagation in which two separate plants are joined together to benefit from the ideal creatures of each. A good example, is grafting conifers on Abies firma.

Green Manure: Green manure refers to turning a cover crop into the soil.

Green Roof: A roof covered with living plant.s

Greenhouse: A building or "house" that is protected from the elements to winter-over tender plants or to start seeds.

Greening-up: Greening up refers to plants and shrubs that are beginning to put out new growth in the spring.

Greens: A compost ingredient that is rich in nitrogen (sometimes abbreviated “N”); typically greens are fresh, moist materials, such as grass clippings, fresh green plant parts, fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, coffee grounds, manure, organic fertilizers. Good compost contains a ratio of 3 parts browns to 1 part greens.

Ground Cover: Plants that are low growing to the ground.

Growth Habit: Used to describe a plant’s characteristic shape, height, fullness, or appearance such as upright or vining.

Gymnosperm: A vascular plant that produces seeds that are not protected in an ovary. A good example is conifers.

Guttation: Guttation is the exudation of xylem sap that accumulate on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses. Not to be confused with dew, which condenses from the atmospher onto the plant surface.
H

Habit: Refers to how a mature plant carries itself.

Habitat: Areas which certain plants thrive.

Ha-Ha: A sunken wall or ditch with one side being a retaining wall, These were used in England to divide lands without interrupting the beauty of the landscape, yet keepings animals within their bounds.

Half-Hardy Perennial: Refers to perennial plants tolerant of some frost and whose roots come back the next growing season in a moderate climate, but that is not tolerant of severe cold weather; an example is Mexican tarragon.

Harden-off: Harden-off refers to the process of gradually acclimating young plants from being grown indoors. Too much sun, wind, and low humidity can damage seedlings slowly introduced to these outdoor conditions.

Hardiness Zone: The ability for the plant to endure difficult conditions within their range. (See zone.)

Hard Freeze: What occurs when the air temperature drops below 25 ºF for four or more consecutive hours. Many plants, even cool weather ones, have a hard time surviving a hard freeze and need to be protected via a row cover or cold frame.

Hardscape: The nonliving or man-made fixtures of a planned outdoor area--walls, gazebos, paths, etc.

Hardpan: A hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, occurring in or below the soil and impairing drainage and plant growth.

Hardy Annuals :Hardy annuals are annuals that complete their life cycle in one year, but are cold-hardy enough to take frost. They can be planted in fall in mild climates or earlier in spring while night temperatures are still frosty (such as pansies and snapdragons.)

Healing Garden: A healing garden is an outdoor therapeutic space designed to meet the healing needs of the people using the garden as well as their caregivers, family members and friends.

Heaving: Frost heaving or just heaving, is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice swelling towards the surface, often taking plants with it.

Herb: Traditional references to an herb areany plant used as a medicine, seasoning, or fragrance.

Heirloom Plant: An heirloom plant, fruit, variety, or vegetable is an old cultivar that is still maintained by gardeners and farmers particularly in isolated or small farming communities. These may have been commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but are not typically used in modern large-scale agriculture.

Herbaceous: Herbaceous perennials are those plants with soft tissues as opposed to woody stems. These plants also die back to the ground during cold winter months.

Herbicide: A selective herbicide is designed to kill only one type of plant in an area containing more plant varieties; an example is an herbicide that kills weeds growing among grass. Non-selective herbicides kill all plants in the application area, such as all types of plants growing between pavement cracks.

Herbivore: An animal that feeds on plants.

Heeling In: In the fall if you are not ready to plant recently purchased potted plants or bare-root trees, shrubs, and perennials you can heel them into a trench to winter-over. The word heeling in is derived from the word 'helan' which is kin to the word 'hell" meaning to cover up. So heeling in for the winter is to cover up plants to protect them until the following spring.

Helen’s Haven: Bee Better's Demonstration garden, the home garden of our director, Helen Yoest; a certified wildlife habitat.

Hermaphrodite:One plant having both male and female organs; the breeding of hermaphrodites is hard to control

Hip: A hip, as in rose hip, is the fruit of the rose plant.

Honeydew: A sticky honey like substance secreted into foliage by aphids, scale and mealy bugs.

Honey Flow: Also known as nectar flow, honey flow is a term used by beekeepers indicating that one or more major nectar sources are in bloom and the weather is favorable for bees to fly and collect the nectar in abundance.

Horticulture: The art or practice of garden cultivation and management.

Horizontal: Parallel to the horizon, ground or floor.

Hormone: Chemical substance that controls the growth and development of a plant. Root-inducing hormones help cuttings root.

Host Plant: A host is a plant upon which an organism, such as an insect subsists. For example, the common milkweed is the host plant for the Monarch butterfly. Host Plant: the plant on which a certain species of butterfly lays its eggs, as well as the plant that the caterpillar feeds on.

Hügelkultur: Hügelkultur (also spelled hüegelkultur) roughly translated from German as hill culture. Hügelkultur is the practice of composting large woody material to create a raised garden bed. It is a way of dealing with excess amounts of woody garden wastes, for example prunings, hedge clippings, brassica stems, or brushwood, and logs.

Humidity (Relative): Ratio between the amount of moisture in the air and the greatest amount of moisture the air could hold at the same temperature.

Humus: Dark, fertile partially decomposed plant or animal matter. Humus forms the organic portion of the soil.

Hybrid: An offspring from two plants of different breeds, variety or genetic makeup.

Hydra: 1835, genus name of a freshwater polyp, from Greek Hydra, many-headed Lernaean water serpent slain by Hercules (this sense is attested in English from late 14c.), from hydor (genitive hydatos) water; related to Sanskrit udrah aquatic animal and Old English ottur for otter. Did you know, while hydrangea are notoriously water-needy plants, the perfix, hydra, refers to the seed capsule’s resemblance to ancient Greek water-carrying vessels, instead of being a thirst plant. Click to Tweet!

Hydrated Lime:I nstantly soluble lime, used to raise pH or sweeten soil.

Hydrogen: Light or colorless, odorless gas; hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water.

Hydrophobic: Lacking affinity for water; tending to repel or not to absorb water. Water very dry soil slowly with the nozzle moving side to side so the soil has a chance to hydrate, thus absorb.

Hygrometer: Instrument for measuring relative humidity in the atmosphere

Immobilization: In soil science, immobilization is the conversion of inorganic compounds to organic compounds by micro-organisms or plants, by which it is prevented from being accessible to plants. Immobilization is the opposite of mineralization.

Inbred: Inbred is a true breed offspring of plants ofthe same breed or ancestry.

Indeterminate: Referring to tomatoes where growth of the plant is isn't limited.

Inert: Chemically non reactive; inert growing mediums make it easy to control the chemistry of the nutrient solution.

Inflorescence :This is the arrangement of blossoms on a stem and can refer to flowers growing in clusters or individually. An example is a cluster of lantana blooms.

Inoculant: A product containing Rhizobiumbacteria, which helps legume crops, peas and beans, to fix or add nitrogen to soil. Inoculant improves yield of legumes; inoculant typically comes in a powder form that you add to soil at planting time; bacteria establish in soil; once established, you don’t need to add more.

Inorganic Compounds: Defined as any compound that is not an organic compound. Some simple compounds that contain carbon are often considered inorganic. Examples include :
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonates, cyanides, cyanates, carbides, and thiocyanates.

Insecticidal Soap: A soap formulated specifically to control insect pests; known for its insecticidal properties. Thanks to the potassium salt in the fatty acids the soap contains; insecticidal soaps don’t typically harm plants (unlike household soaps, which often have perfumes and other additives.) Soaps are most effective against soft-bodied insects such as aphids, young scales, mealybugs, and whiteflies; except for predatory mites, most beneficial insects aren’t hurt by insecticidal soap as long as they are not wet by the spray

Integrated Pest Management:IPM.

Intensive Gardening Or Intensive Spacing: Planting crops closer together than the recommended spacing (found on plant tags and labels) to maximize available garden space. Reducing wasted space to interplant complementary crops, thereby increasing yields and reducing the need to weed.

Internode: A part of a plant stem between two of the nodes from which leaves emerging

Introduced: An introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental.

Invasive: An invasive species is a plant that is not native to a specific location (an Introduced species); and has a tendency to escape cultivation.

IRT Film :Infrared transmitting plastic (IRT) is laid as a mulch on the surface of soil to transmit infrared radiation, while blocking most light (similar to black plastic mulch. It is used to warm the soil in spring, especially in cold climates. IRT film is usually translucent brown or green.

JC Raulson Arboretum: JC Raulston Arboretum

June-Bearing: A description used for strawberries that produce fruit once mid-season, around June in the North, rather than multiple times (seeming continuous) throughout summer (i.e. everbearing)

K (Potassium): The abbreviation for potassium; the last of three letters (N-P-K) used on packaged fertilizers to denote the percentage (by weight) of potassium contained; potassium contributes to a plant’s overall health

Keystone plants: Those plants that provide a critical source of food and/or shelter for other species. As an example, the saguaro cactus, in the Sonoran Desert. Did you know it takes 100 years for a saguaro cactus to grow one arm?

Lacewing: Beneficial insects that preys on aphids.

Lanky: Too-long stems often a result of not enough light; these stems are weak and tend to fall over

Larva: The active immature form of an insect, especially one that differs greatly from the adult and forms the stage between egg and pupa, e.g., a caterpillar or grub.

Lateral Bud: Another term for axillary bud. See above.

Lath House: Structure used to protect plants from the weather and to get them adjusted to the weather before planting them out in the garden.

Layering: The method or activity of propagating a plant by producing layers.

Leach:Dissolve or wash out soluble components of soil by heavy watering.

Leader: The growing apex or main shoot of a shrub or tree.

Leaf Curl: Leaf malformation due to over-watering over fertilization lack of magnesium, insect or fungus o or negative tropism.

Leaf-out: When trees are putting out new leaf buds in the spring, it’s referred to as leaf-out.

Leaflet: Small immature leaf.

Leaf Mold: Leaf mold is the result of letting leaves sit and decompose over time. It is dark brown to black, has a pleasant earthy aroma and a crumbly texture, much like compost. In fact, leaf mold is just that: composted leaves.

Leaf Pattern or Attachment: The pattern by which leaves are attached to a stem or twig. There are two large groups, alternate and opposite patterns, and a third less common pattern, whorled.

Life Cycle: The various life stages through which an organism passes in its development.

Petiole: In botany, the petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem, the transition between the stem and the leaf blade. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile or petiolate.

Phyllodulcin: A compound found in the leaves of the Asian shrub, Hydrangea serrata, used to make herbal tea. Did you know, hyllodulcin.

Leaf Scorch: Leaf scorch, also called leaf burn, leaf wilt, and sun scorch, is defined as a browning of plant tissues, including leaf margins and tips, and yellowing or darkening of veins which may lead to eventual wilting and abscission of the leaf.

Lean soil: Soil low in humus or rich organic matter, such as clay or sand, are considered lean.

Leaves: The external part of a plant attached to branches and stems for the purpose of taking in light from the sun s energy, they do this with chloroplasts in the cells which contain chlorophyll.

Leggy: Abnormally tall internode space, with sparse foliage. Leggyness of a plant is usually caused by lack of blue light or CO2 too much nitrogen can also cause this.

Lepidopterist: a scientist who studies butterflies and moths.

Life Cycle: A series of growth stages through which a plant must pass in its natural lifetime; the stages for an annual plant are seed, seedling, vegetative and floral.

Light Frost: What occurs when the temperature drops below 32 ºF and ice crystals begin to form. Many cool-weather vegetables (such as kale and collards) can not only survive a light frost, but even have their flavor improved by it.

Liner Plant: Is a horticultural term referring to trays of very young plants, usually grown for sale to retailers or wholesalers, who then grow them to a larger size before selling them to their consumer. . Liners are usually grown from seed, but may also be grown from cuttings or tissue culture. They are grown in plastic trays with many cells, each of which contains a single liner plant.

Lime: Used in the form of dolomite or hydrated lime to raise and stabilize soil pH. Calcium carbonate, or garden lime, is a type of soil amendment used to raise soil pH. It comes in different forms; some forms are fast-acting, other takes months to shift pH some types are pelletized, others are fine and dusty; read product labels to buy the right type for your situation

Liming: Adding lime (calcium carbonate) to soil to raise its pH and make it less acidic

Litmus Paper: Chemically sensitive paper used for testing pH.

Loam: Organic soil mixture of crumbly clay, silt and sand.

Lodge: The collapse of the cereal stem when it can no longer support its own weight. All cereal crops and all varieties are susceptible to varying degrees of lodging. Two types of lodging occur in cereals: root lodging and stem failure.

Long-Day Onions: The term given to onion varieties that require a minimum number of days with long periods of sunlight to form proper bulbs; describes growing conditions where daylight lasts at least 14 hours, and nights are, of course, shorter; long-day onions are typically grown in the North

Macronutrient: One or all of the primary nutrients N-P-K or the secondary nutrients magnesium and calcium.

Male Flower: A flower that has only male parts; many vegetables have flowers that contain both male and female parts within the same flower, but cucurbits such as squash, cucumber, cantaloupe, and watermelon have separate male and female flowers, and pollen must be transferred from the male to female flowers by a pollinator such as a bee in order to make fruit; botanically, a male flower is also called a staminate flower, and it contains a stamen (male part including the pollen-bearing anthers) but no functioning pistil (female part made of stigma, style, and ovary)

Marcescent: Many oaks (Quercus spp.) have marcescent leaves. I have one and at first thought it was a disadvantage because I'm raking leaves in the spring. But then I learned to appreciate the sound of the leaves shimmering in the breeze. Marcescent is when foliage writers but is retained on the plant stem, holding on to their dried leaves until spring.

Margin: The area along the leaf blade.

Mature: Fully grown.

Metamorphosis: In an insect or amphibian, the transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages. In a human, it goes from the sweetest child you can possible imagine to the devil incarnate, then back to a reasonable human being.

Meristem: Tip of plants growth.

Mesic habitat. In ecology, a mesic habitat is a type of habitat with a moderate or well-balanced supply of moisture.

Microclimate: The climate of a very small or restricted area, especially when this differs from the climate of the surrounding area.

Micronutrient: Also referred to as trace elements, include S, Fe, Mn, B, Mo, Zn, and Cu.

Migration: Movement of a group of people or animals from one location to another.

Mineralization: In biology, Mineralization refers to a process where an inorganic substance precipitates in an organic matrix. This may be due to normal biological processes that take place during the life of an organism such as the formation of bones, egg shells, teeth, coral, and other exoskeletons

Müllerian Mimic: A Natural phenomenon in which two or more distasteful species, that may or may not be closely related and share one or more common predators, have come to mimic each other's warning signals. It is named after the German naturalist Fritz Müller, who first proposed the concept in 1878.

Moisture Meter: An electronic device that measures the exact moisture content of soil at any given point.

Mole: A mole is a carnivorous underground Insectivora (not a rodent) that will eat worms, grubs, and adult insects.

Monoecious: A plant having both the male and female reproductive organs in the same individual; hermaphrodite.

Mound: A growth habit with a tight, half-circle form.

Mound Layering: A method of propagation in which various woody-stemmed plants (as currants, gooseberries, quinces) are cut back to the ground in early spring and the new shoots that they develop are covered with soil to a depth of six to eight inches to induce root growth which forms individual plants that can be removed in the fall. Also called stool layering.

Mud-pudling: See puddling.

Mulch: Mulch is a material laid on the ground around plants to retain soil moisture, moderate soil temperature, insulate the roots during the winter, reduce erosion, and suppress weed growth. Organic mulches include bark (pine, hardwood, etc.,) wood chips, straw, composted leaves, and newspaper. Inorganic mulches include gravel or stone.

Mycorrhiza: A symbiotic association of the mycelium of a fungus, especially a basidiomycete, with the roots of certain plants, in which the hyphae form a closely woven mass around the rootlets or penetrate the cells of the root.

N Nitrogen: The chemical element of atomic number 7, a colorless, odorless unreactive gas that forms about 78 percent of the earth's atmosphere. Liquid nitrogen (made by distilling liquid air) boils at 77.4 kelvins (-195.8°C) and is used as a coolant.

Navigation: The act or science of directing the course of a traveling object.

Native Plants: Native plant is a term used to describe plants endemic (indigenous) to a given area in geologic time. This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area.

Naturalized: An establish plant that it lives wild in a region where it is not indigenous.

Necrosis: The death of most or all of the cells in an organ or tissue due to disease, injury, or failure of the blood supply

Nectar: Nectar is a sweet liquid in many flowers that serves as food for a variety of wildlife, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The plant from which a certain species of butterfly drinks nectar of flowers.

Nectar Flow: Also known as honey flow, nectar flow is a term used by beekeepers indicating that one or more major nectar sources are in bloom and the weather is favorable for bees to fly and collect the nectar in abundance.

Nematode: A worm of the large phylum Nematoda, such as a roundworm or threadworm.

Neem Oil: A horticultural oil used as an organic insecticide and fungicide. Need oil is made from the fruits and seeds of the neem tree, native to India. Neem oil doesn’t harm beneficial insects as long as it isn’t sprayed directly on their habitat or food source

Nematode: Any of a phylum of elongated cylindrical worms parasitic in animals or plants or free-living in soil or water.

Neutral: Neutral soil has a pH of 7.

Nidus: A place or point in an organism where a germ or other organism can develop or breed.

Night-blooming Garden: A night-blooming garden is one that is creating to be appreciated in the evening, after working all day. This can be with white (and light colored) flowers, and those that scent is more pronounced in the evening like an flowering tobacco.

Nitrogen: The chemical element of atomic number 7, a colorless, odorless unreactive gas that forms about 78 percent of the earth's atmosphere. Liquid nitrogen (made by distilling liquid air) boils at 77.4 kelvins (−195.8°C) and is used as a coolant.

Nemophilist: One who loves the forest and its beauty and solitude.

Nocturnal: Active at night.

Node: The part of a plant stem from which one or more leaves emerge, often forming a slight swelling or knob.

N-P-K: This is expressed with three numbers (10-10-10 for example) on bags of fertilizer and refers to the nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium ratio in the mix. N, nitrogen; P, phosphorus; K, potassium.

Nursery: A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size.

Nuptial gifts: Food items or inedible tokens that are transferred to females by males during courtship or copulation. Inedible tokens may include items such as a fragment of leaf or twig, a seed tuft, or a silk balloon.

Nutrients: A substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life.

Nyctophile: A person who loves night, darkness.

Open Pollinated: Open pollination is pollination by insects, birds, wind, or other natural mechanisms, and contrasts with cleistogamy, closed pollination, which is one of the many types of self pollination

Opposite: An arrangement of leaves or buds on a stem in which the leaves emerge from the stem in opposing pair.

Organic: In gardening, organic refers to anything relating to, or derived from living organisms. Soil contains organic matter such as decaying plants and living organisms (worms, fungi, microbes.) Organic is also a labeling term for food and other products that are regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture and other entities to be grown or made using practices approved as organic.

Organic Gardening: Using gardening techniques and products that promote or do the least disturbance to ecological health, including biodiversity and soil health. Organic gardening practices minimize or eliminate the use of synthetic fertilizers and many conventional pesticides, instead relying on natural products and practices thought to promote the best overall environment; GMOs are not allowed in organic gardening

Organic Matter: Organic materials are those originating from a living organism. Organic has also become the common term to refer to a method of gardening in which no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used.

Ornamental: Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as houseplants, for cut flowers and specimen display. The cultivation of these, called floriculture, forms a major branch of horticulture.

Overseed: To seed an existing stand with another type of plant, such as overseeding the Bermuda grass with ryegrass.

Overwinter: To keep plants alive through the winter.

Organic: Made of, or derived from or related to living organisms. In agriculture organic means natural. in chemistry organic means a molecule or substance that contains carbon.

Organic Matter: Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large pool of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments

Ovipositor: is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typically its form is adapted to functions such as preparing a place for the egg, transmitting the egg, and then placing it properly. For most insects, the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but for many parasitic species (primarily in wasps and other in the family of Hymenoptera), it is a piercing organ as well.

Ovary: The enlarged basal portion of the pistil where ovules are produced.

Ovule: A plant's egg found within the calyx, it contains all the female genes; when fertilized, an ovule will grow into a seed.

Oxygen: Tasteless, colorless element, necessary in soil to sustain plant life as well as animal life.

P (Phosphorous): A macronutrient that promotes root development, which strengthens plants, and increases blooms; often present in packaged fertilizers.

Parasite: Organism that lives on or in another host organism; fungus is a parasite.

Parthenocarpic: Setting seed or berries without a pollinator. The resulting fruit is sterile.

Part Sun:Part Sun (Or Part Shade): Plants labeled either part sun or part shade don’t like a long exposure to full sun. Because the sun’s intensity varies according to season and geography, observation is the best way to gauge a site’s suitability for your plant’s needs. Generally, figure four to six hours of direct sun daily for plants labeled part sun or part shade

Patio: A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence, and is typically paved.

Peat: Partially decomposed vegetation (usually moss) with slow decay due to extreme moisture and cold.

Peduncle: The stalk of a flower.

Pesticide: A substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals. Not used in Helen's Haven. Pesticides treat an extensive range of potential plant problems and are applied in numerous ways. Pesticides other than herbicides and fungicides include insecticides, miticides and rodenticides, which kill insects, mites and rodents, respectively. Some pesticides are applied directly to plants or soil and can be in liquid, powder or gas form. Others are baits, such as ant traps or rodent poisons, that appeal to those forms of pests.

Pest Resistant: Pests (weeds, insects, mites, diseases, etc.) that become resistant to a pesticide will not be affected by the pesticide. When pests are resistant, it is more difficult to control the pest.

Perennial: A perennial are plants lasting at least three life-cycles, such as rosemary, lavender, and many other long lived plants.

Permaculture: Permaculture is sustainable land use design.

Pergola: A pergola is a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice. As a type of gazebo, it may also be an extension of a building or serve as protection for an open terrace, or a link between pavilions.

Perlite: Perlite is a very lightweight, heat-treated volcanic rock that is used to improve drainage and to increase the pore space for oxygen availability to the roots in potting soil.

Petal: The parts of a flower that are often conspicuously colored.

Picotee: Describes flowers whose edge is a different color than the flower's base color. The word originates from the French picoté, meaning 'marked with points'.

Petiole: The stalk that joins a leaf to a stem; leafstalk.

Petrichor: The smell of earth after rain.

Pinnately compound evergreen foliage: Includes individual leaflets on a stem. If such a leaf is evenlypinnate, it has an even number of leaves, one on each side of the stem. Oddlypinnate means having the same arrangement as evenly, but with the addition of an extra leaf at the very top of the stem. A leaf whose blade is divided into two or more distinct leaflets.

Plants with Benefits: Plants With Benefits: An Uninhibited Guide to the Aphrodisiac Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, & Veggies in Your Garden (2014, St. Lynn's Press)

Pleached: Pleaching is a very specific garden term. It refers to a way of interlacing young tree branches along a framework to produce a screen or hedge. The pleaching technique is a style of growing trees in a line with their branches tied together to form a plane above the trunk

Pluviophile: Someone who loves the rain, who finds joy and peace of mind in rainy days.

Pluviophila: A love of rain; a feeling of joy, hope, and relief on stormy days.

pH: A scale from 1 to 14 that measures the acid to alkaline balance of a growing medium (or anything); in general plants grow best in a range of 5.5 to 6.8 pH.

pH Scale: pH scale.

pH Tester: Electronic instrument or chemical used to find where soil or water is on the pH scale.

Phloem: The vascular tissue in plants that conducts sugars and other metabolic products downward from the leaves.

Phosphorous: The chemical element of atomic number 15, a poisonous, combustible nonmetal which exists in two common allotropic forms, white phosphorus, a yellowish waxy solid which ignites spontaneously in air and glows in the dark, and red phosphorus, a less reactive form used in making matches.

Photometrics: The study of light, especially color.

Phosphor Coating: Internal bulb coating that diffuses light and is responsible for variations in color outputs.

Photoperiod: The relationship between the length of light and dark in a 24 hour period.

Photosynthesis: The building of chemical compounds (carbohydrates) from light energy, water and carbon dioxide.

Phototropism: The specific movement of a plant part towards a light source.

Phylum (pluralPhyla): A principal taxonomic category that ranks above class and below kingdom.

Phylloclades: Leaf-like stems.

Phyllodulcin: A compound found in the leaves of the Asian shrub, Hydrangea serrata, which are used in herbal tea.

Phytoplasma: Aster yellows is a chronic, systemic plant disease caused by a bacterium-like organism called a phytoplasma. The aster yellows phytoplasma (AYP) affects 300 species in 38 families of broad-leaf herbaceous plants, primarily in the aster family, as well as important cereal crops such as wheat and barley.

Pigment: The substance in paint or anything that absorbs light, producing (reflecting) the same color.

Picotee: A type of carnation whose light-colored flowers have dark-edged petals.

Pinching Back: Pinching back plants is a form of pruning that encourages branching on the plant. This means that when you pinch a plant, you are removing the main stem, forcing the plant to grow two new stems from the leaf nodes below the pinch or cut.

Pistil: The ovule-bearing or seed-bearing female organ of a flower, consisting of the ovary, style, and stigma.

Piquancy: Is a term applied to foods with a lower degree of pungency that are agreeably stimulating to the palate.

Pistil: The ovule producing part of a flower. The ovary often supports a long style, topped by a stigma. The mature ovary is a fruit, and the mature ovule is a seed.

Pod: A pod is the dried fruit or seed vessel on a plant that encases the seed.

Pollarding: Pollarding is to cut off the top and branches of(a tree to encourage new growth at the top.

Pollen: Fine, dust like micro- spores containing male genes.

Pollination: Pollination is the spreading of pollen between plants for reproductive purposes and the development of fruit.

Pollinator: An agent of pollen transfer including insects, such as bees, as well as wind

Pome: In botany, a pome is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. A fruit consisting of a fleshy enlarged receptacle and a tough central core containing the seeds, e.g., pyracantha, pear.

Porosity: Soil porosity refers to that part of a soil volume that is not occupied by soil particles or organic matter. Pore spaces are filled with either air, other gases, or water. Large pores (macropores) allow the ready movement of air and the drainage of water.

Positivism: A philosophical theory stating that certain knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge.

A philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism.

The theory that laws are to be understood as social rules, valid because they are enacted by authority or derive logically from existing decisions, and that ideal or moral considerations (e.g., that a rule is unjust) should not limit the scope or operation of the law.

Potash Fertilizer: A fertilizer that’s high in potassium, which promotes high vegetable yields; all plants need some potassium but some crops, such as artichoke, need more than others and benefit from a high-potassium fertilizer.Potting Soil: A mixture of loam, peat, sand, and nutrients, used as a growing medium for plants in containers.

Primary Nutrients: N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium)

Predator: An animal that naturally preys on others. I worry that predators will get to my chickens.

Pre-Emergent Herbicide: Prevents the germination of seeds by inhibiting a key enzyme. In some areas of the world, they are used to prevent crabgrass from appearing in summer lawns. Pre-emergent herbicides are applied to lawns in the spring and fall to prevent the germination of weed seed.

Proboscis: The elongate, protruding mouth part of certain insects, adapted for sucking or piercing.

Progeny: A descendant or the descendants of a person, animal, or plant; offspring.

Propagate: (1) Sexual: produce a seed by breeding different male and female flowers (2) Asexual: to produce a plant by taking cuttings

Propagation: Plant reproduction, done in three ways: division, cutting (see above), and seed. Division propagationis taking plant clumps, roots and all, and dividing them into smaller pieces to transplant elsewhere.

Protozo: A phylum or group of phyla that comprises the single-celled microscopic animals, which include amoebas, flagellates, ciliates, sporozoans, and many other forms. They are now usually treated as a number of phyla belonging to the kingdom Protista

Prostrate: A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just above the ground, rather than being held erect as are the branches of most trees and shrubs. Way too often confused with prostate.

Prune: Alter the shape and growth pattern of a plant by cutting stems and shoots. A restaurant in NYC.

Psithurism: The sound of wind through trees.

Pubescent: On certain plants a covering with a layer of fine short hairs or down.

Puddling: Mud-puddling, or simply puddling, is a behaviour most often seen in butterflies, but occurs in other insects as well. Butterflies seek out certain moist substances ,such as rotting plant matter, mud, and carrion, sucking up the fluid.

Pungency: Pungency is the technical term used by scientists to refer to the characteristic of food commonly referred to as spiciness or hotness and sometimes heat.

Pupa: An insect in the non-feeding, usually immobile, transformation stage between the larva and the adult.

Pyrethrum: Natural insecticide made from the blossoms of various chrysanthemums.

Rain Barrel: A rain barrel is a system that collects and stores rainwater from your roof that would otherwise be lost to runoff and diverted to storm drains and streams.

Rain Garden: Rain Garden.
Rain Gauge:A device that measures how much water a garden gets, either by rainfall or watering; keeping one in the garden can help you to determine if and how much to water plants

Raised Bed: A garden bed built above the soil surface and typically framed with either wood or stone; raised bed kits and building plans are readily available. Raised beds, filled with purchased soil mixture, can eliminate problems with native soil, and can even be built on concrete.

Receptacle: The part of a flower stalk where the parts of the flower are attached.

Rejuvenate: Restore youth; a mature plant, having completed its life cycle (flowering), may be stimulated by a new 18 hour photo period, to rejuvenate or produce new vegetative growth.

Resistant: Refers to how well a plant resists to pests.

Reseed: Also known as self-seeding or self-sowing. Plants reseed when they produce mature seed that falls to the ground and germinates to produce new seedlings. Examples of plants that frequently reseed include, Mexican tarragon, dill, cilantro, and heirloom tomatoes: New crops may sprout in the same growing season or seeds may linger in soil through winter and sprout the following spring.

Rhizomes: A continuously growing horizontal underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.

Rhizosphere: The rhizosphere is the narrow region of soil that is directly influenced by root secretions, and associated soil microorganisms known as the root microbiome

The rhizosphere is the narrow region of soil that is directly influenced by root secretions, and associated soil microorganisms known as the root microbiome.

Root: Their purpose is to anchor a plant and provide a means in which to feed and hydrate a plant.

Root Bound: Roots stifled or inhibited from normal growth, by the confines of a container.

Root Flare: The outwardly curving base of a tree where it joins the roots, often distinguishable as individual root buttresses.

Root Rot: Root rot is a condition found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although more common in indoor plants with poor drainage. As the name states, the roots of the plant rot. Usually, this is a result of overwatering.

Root Stock: A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It can refer to a rhizome or underground stem.

Rotate: To plant crops in a different place each growing season; many experts specify using a 3-year rotation, which means in one spot in the garden, you plant a different crop three years in a row before repeating the same crop in that spot again; this planting practicehelps minimize pests and diseases

Row Cover: In horticulture, row cover (or cloche) is any material used as a protective covering to shield plants, usually vegetables, primarily from the undesirable effects of cold and wind, and also from insect damage.

Runner: A long thin stem that usually grows horizontally along the ground and produces roots and shoots at widely spaced nodes, as in a strawberry plant. Also called stolon.

Runoff: The draining away of water from the surface of an area of land, a building. or structure.

Salt: Crystalline compound that results from improper pH or toxic buildup of fertilizer. Salt will burn plants, preventing them from absorbing nutrients.

Scarification: In horticulture, stratification is the process of pretreating seeds to simulate natural winter conditions that a seed must endure before germination. Many seed species undergo an embryonic dormancy phase, and generally will not sprout until this dormancy is broken.

Scoring, scratching, or teasing roots: The loosening of roots when taken from a nursery pot so they won’t continue growing in a circle is referred to as teasing the roots.

Scratch-in: Scratch-inmeans raking granular fertilizer into the soil either with fingers or a small rake or hand cultivator.

Scoville Scale: The first lab approach to measure heat in peppers, devised by Wilbur L. Scoville in 1912; in this method, human subjects taste a pepper sample and record the heat level; the samples are then diluted in the lab until heat is no longer detected by the tasters; this dilution is called the Scoville Heat Unit. While the method is still subjective, as it depends on the taster’s palate and sensitivity, it’s the most accepted, scientific measurement of heat in peppers

Screen: Landscaping that is primarily used to screen an area for privacy, to block an objectionable view, or to serve as a natural boundary or border is considered a screen planting. Selections might include dense, fast-growing, evergreen shrubs; trees; vines; large succulents and tall ornamental grasses

Secondary Nutrients: Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg).

Seed: A flowering plant's unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant.

Seed Pod: A dry calyx containing a mature or maturing seed.

Seed Propagation: Growing plants from seed.

Selenophile: A person who loves the moon.

Sepal: The outer parts of the flower (often green and leaf-like) that enclose a developing bud.

Self-Pollinating: The pollination of a flower by pollen from the same flower or from another flower on the same plant.

Semi-Hardy Vegetables: Tolerate light frosts (usually 29 to 32 ºF) late into fall and through winter in mild climates; good for spring and fall gardens, including cauliflower, lettuce, radicchio, rutabaga, and Swiss chard.

Side-Dress: To fertilize (growing plants) by mixing fertilizer into the soil along each row.

Shade Cloth: Shade cloth is a commercially available material for hanging over your greenhouse glazing to cool it in summer months. They are usually made of loosely woven polyester or even aluminum and can be found in varying densities or degrees of shade from appx. 5% to 95%

Shearing: Something cut off by shearing. Pruning boxwoods is a good example.

Short-Day Onions: Onion varieties that need short days (10 to 12 hours of daylight) to form bulbs; they take approximately 110 days to mature in the South if planted in the fall, and just 75 days in the North where they may be planted in early spring; the earlier you plant short-day onions, the larger they get, but they won’t get very big in the northern states; short-day onion varieties, including Georgia Sweet (Yellow Granex), Sweet Red, Texas Super Sweet, (1015Y), and Texas Sweet White.

Slow movement: The Slow Movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. The slow movement began in 1986 with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Plazza di Spagna, Rome. Thus the slow food organization was born. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as slow garden, slow design, slow food, slow flowers, slow travel, and so on.

Slow Release Fertilizer: The property of a fertilizer that allows it to release it nutrients to plants over time.

Soil: The earthen ground that serves as a natural growing medium for the growth of plants. Soil is made of minerals, air, water, and organic matter. The mineral component of soil is measured by size, including (largest to smallest): sand, silt, and clay

Soil buffering: The ability of the soil to stop nutrient or pH changes by absorption. For soils, it is the capability of aborbing nutrients and also releasing them (cation exchange capacity). Humic acids and clay minerals have good buffer qualities.

Soil Food Web: A community of organisms that live in the soil; as organisms move through the food chain, energy and nutrients are exchanged. The soil food web features a diversity of creatures, from microscopic bacteria, fungi, and algae, to mites and nematodes, to earthworms, ants, spiders, and plant roots.

Soil minerals: Soil minerals, also called nutrients, are necessary for plants. The minerals needed in large amounts (macronutrients) include: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Other elements are needed in smaller amounts (micronutrients) such as iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, chlorine, and molybdenum. Other nutrients include carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; these are obtained through water and air.

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC): The amount of carbonstored in the soilis a component of soilorganic matter–plant and animal materials in the soilthat are in various stages of decay. Soilorganic carbonis the basis of soil fertility

Soil Structure: Soil structure describes the arrangement of the solid parts of the soil and of the pore space located between them. It is determined by how individual soil granules clump, bind together, and aggregate, resulting in the arrangement of soil pores between them.

Soil Test: Soil test.

Soaker Hose: A type of hose that applies water directly to soil, typically by sweating or seeping water through its porous surface. Frequently made from recycled rubber; work best on a flat surface. Good for conserving water.

Soluble Salts: Definition of Insoluble salts (precipitates.) Many ionic metal compounds are insoluble in water. Calcium carbonate, copper chloride, and lead sulfide are examples of such salts.

Soluble: Able to be dissolved in water.

Specimen: A plant that has interest enough to stand on its own and not be apart of a mass planting.

Split-Resistant: Used to described cabbage varieties that resist splitting when they take up a lot of water, especially after a dry period, 'Early Jersey Wakefield', and Stonehead ' are split-resistant cabbage varieties

Spike: An elongated main stem that supports many separate flowers on shorter stems, usually symmetrically arranged, as with Penstemon.

Spring: Spring

Spring Fever: Oh, you'll know it, when you have it!

Spore: Seed like offspring of a fungus.

Sprout: (1) A recently germinated seed (2) Small new growth of a leaf or stem.

Square Feet (SqFt): Length (in feet) times width equals square feet.

Stomachic: Promoting the petite or assisting digestion.

Stratification (the seed): Aa brief cold-treatment (few days) of water soaked seeds to break seed dormancy, results in an even germination. It is unlikely that pre-chilling dry seeds will break dormancy.

Strawberry Jar: A planter with pocketed openings in the sides into which small plants can be inserted for growing. used for growing strawberries as well as flowers and herbs.

Succulents: Succulents are plants with fleshy, thick tissue adapted to storing water. Common succulents include agaves, ice plants, and stonecrops.

Suckers: Suckers, often called watersprouts, shoots, or canes, is growth from the roots of trees, some shrubs, roses, as well as from rootstock of grafted trees or roses.

Subtend: Subtend (of a bract) extend under (a flower) so as to support or enfold it.

Sun Requirements: Sun Requirements.

Sustainable: Sustainable gardening,

Sustainable: Means to perpetuate existence as well as to provide sustenance and nourishment.

Stamen: Male, pollen-producing.

Standard: A tree or shrub growing on an erect stem of full height.

Starch: Complex carbohydrate; starch is manufactured and stored in food.

Steppe: A large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia

.Sterilize: Make sterile (super clean) by removing dirt, germs and bacteria.

Stigma: The part of the pistil where pollen germinates.

Stress: A physical or chemical factor that causes extra exertion by plants; a stressed plant will not grow as well as a non stressed plant.

Stolon: A stolon is a horizontal stem growing above ground that forms roots at its tip.

Stool Layering: A method of propagation in which various woody-stemmed plants (as currants, gooseberries, quinces) are cut back to the ground in early spring and the new shoots that they develop are covered with soil to a depth of six to eight inches to induce root growth which forms individual plants that can be removed in the fall. Also called mound layering.

Stomata: Small mouth like or nose like openings (pores) on leaf underside, responsible for transpiration and many other life functions; the millions of stomata, must be kept very clean to function properly.

Succulent: A type of plant with thick, fleshy leaves, stems, or tubers.

Suckers: A sucker is a shoot or cane which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub or from adventitious buds in its roots.

Sugar: Food product of plant. Carbohydrates that contain hydrocarbon chain.

Support: Anything used to hold up a plant, such as a trellis, cage, or stake; support is often recommended for keeping tomato and cucumber plants upright and keeping fruit off the ground.

Sunscald: Damage to plant tissue, especially bark or fruit, caused by exposure to excessive sunlight.

Susceptible Host: Any organism that is easily invaded by a parasitic organism for the purpose of subsistence, is presented.

Sustainability: Thequalityofnotbeingharmfultothe environmentordepletingnaturalresources,andthere bysupporting long-termecologicalbalance.

Synthesis: Production of a substance, such as chlorophyll, by uniting light energy and elements or chemical compounds.

Synthetic Fertilizer: Phosphoric acid and potash are the most common phosphorus and potassium ingredients in synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers are by definition not natural. They are specifically designed to feed a plant a certain amount of specific nutrients.

Symptoms: A physical feature that is regarded as indicating a condition of disease.

Sympatric:Of animals or plants, especially of related species or populations, occurring within the same geographical area; overlapping in distribution

Tap Root: The main or primary root that grows from the seed; lateral roots will branch off the tap root.

Taxonomy: The branch of science concerned with classification; especially of organisms.

Temperate: The degree or intensity of heat present.

Tenalach: Used to describe a relationship one has with the land, air, and water. A deep connection that allows one to literally hear the Earth sing.

Tendril :Designing with vines.

Tepid:Warm 70 to 80 degrees F (21 to 27 degrees C); always use tepid water around plants to facilitate chemical processes and ease shock.

Terminal Bud: Bud at the growing end of the main st

Texture: Texture refers to the overall visual texture of the plant—the size and shape of the plant, and its foliage.

Thatch: Lawn thatch is the layer of dead turfgrass tissue between the green vegetation and the soil surface that must be removed (a process known as "dethatching") to maintain lawn health. It consists of stems, leaves, stolons, rhizomes and roots.

Thin: Cull or weed out very slow growing seedlings.

Threshold: The magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomena, result, or condition to occur or be manifested.

Thermophilic Composting: Uses heat-loving bacteria to break down biological waste, vermicomposting is a great way to recycle your old table scraps into usable fertilizer. While thermophilic composting is slightly more sterile, the advantage to vermicomposting is that it is more stable than thermophilic composting, and the product is slightly more potent.

Thug: A name give to plants that grow vigorously and choke out less aggressive nearby plants.

Till: Tilling is simply turning over and breaking up the soil. Exactly how deep you till and how fine you break up the soil depends on your reason for tilling.

Tissue Culture: The growth in an artificial medium of cells derived from living tissue.

Top-dress: To spread manure or fertilizer on the surface of (land) without working it into the soil. I top-dress my garden beds every year with fresh leaf mold.

Topiary: The art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes.

Topsoil: The fertile, upper part of the soil.

Trailing: To hang down loosely from something. Plants that trail soften edges and spread down or out.

Transpire: Give off water vapor and by products via stomata and carbon dioxide intake at the leaves.

Transplant: The transfer of a young seeding into a large space. Young seedling plant especially grown in a container instead of starting directly from seed in the ground; the name “trans-plant” comes from the fact that it moves from its container into the ground; transplants give the garden a big head start; Bonnie Plants transplants are grown in greenhouses around the country and are ready for sale at the appropriate planting season

Treated Seed: In agriculture and horticulture, a chemical seed treatment, typically antimicrobial or fungidal, with which seeds are treated prior to planting.

Trellis: Frame or netting (lattice) that trains or supports plants.

Triecious: Of or pertaining to a species having male, female, and hermaphrodite flowers on different plants.

Tropical: The tropics are warm places without freezes. Plants that thrive in hot humid climates.

Tuberous Roots: Tuberous roots are the fifth and final type of bulb. Most often, tuberous roots are not thought of as bulbs at all (at least, not by me), but they are. Their parts below the ground are unmistakable. Unlike other bulb types, those tuberous roots have puffy root-like structures that look as though someone pumped them up like a balloon, but they are really adapted stems—not a true root. Instead, the actual root grows from the sides and the tip of the tuberous root. Familiar tuberous root plants include dahlias and daylilies.

Umbel: The flowering part of a plant made up of a cluster of flowers, as with lantana.

Undercut: Remove the final stump by cutting close to the trunk, but not flush with it. Make an angled cut away from the tree, just beyond the crease in the bark where the branch meets the trunk.

Understock: The rooted plant that receives the scion.

Upright: Vertical or erect.

Up-pot: To up-put mean to repot a plant when it's outgrown its pot to a larger one. Increase the size of the pot and freshen the old potting soil with new soil. This gives the roots more room to grow

\Variegated: Having or consisting of leaves that are edged or patterned in a second color, especially white as well as green.

Variety: Strain, phenotype.

Vascular System: The vessels and tissue that carry or circulate sap through the plant.

Vegetative: Of, relating to, or denoting reproduction or propagation achieved by asexual means, either naturally (budding, rhizomes, runners, bulbs, etc.) or artificially (grafting, layering, or taking cuttings).

Vent: Opening such as a window or door that allows the circulation of fresh air.

Vernalagnia. It means spring fever or the romantic mood one feels during this time of year.

Ventilation: Circulation of fresh air, fundamental to a healthy indoor garden, an exhaust fan creates excellent ventilation.

Ventral: The ventral (from Latin venter, meaning belly) surface refers to the front, or lower side, of an organism. If talking about the butterfly, the ventral side is the bottom. The dorsal (from Latin dorsum, meaning back) surface of an organism refers to the back, or upper side, of an organism.

Vermiculture: The cultivation of annelid worms (as earthworms or bloodworms) especially for use in composting.

Vernalization: Vernalization is the subjection of seeds or seedlings to cold temperatures in order to hasten plant development and flowering. The seeds and buds of many plants require cold in order to break dormancy.

Vertical: Up and down perpendicular to the horizontal.

Viticulture: The cultivation of grapes.

Volcano Mulching: Volcano mulching is an improper mulching technique where mulch is piled high against the trunk of a tree. It is recommended to avoid this type of tree care maintenance. Mulch should not touch the trunk of the tree.

Vole: A vole is a vegetarian rodent. A vole will gnaw at the base of a tree or shrub. A vole may also damage flower bulbs and potatoes in the garden; but mainly, the vole will eat the stems and blades of lawn grass.

Warm-season crops: Warm-season veggies require both warm soil and high temperatures (with a little cooling at night) to grow steadily and produce crops. They include traditional summer crops such as snap beans, corn, cucumbers, melons, peppers, tomatoes, and squash.

Warm-season grasses: Warm-season grasses are those grasses actively growing when its warm, and its green in the summer and the color of hay in the winter. Common warm-season grass include Zoysia, Centipede, and Bermuda. Warm-season grass tend to flourish during the warmer summer months, and therefore require fertilizing shortly after green-up in the spring and again in the late summer months.

Water-in: To water-in means using a liquid vitamin, plant food, or some other additive with water so it can be readily absorbed by the soil.

Water Soluble: Able to be dissolved in water.

Waterspouts: Watersprouts are the growth resulting from buds on the surface of old wood of a plant. The growth is very thin relative to the parent branch and the joint between the sprout and branch is weak. Like a sucker, the sprout wood is juvenile and fast-growing, fed on ample water and nutrients from the large parent wood.

Water-wise: Water-wise.

Weed: A wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants.

Weeping: Used in names of tree and shrub varieties with drooping branches. As example, a weeping cherry.

Well-Drained Soil: Soil that allows water to pass through it easily; a few minutes after watering or rainfall, soil that is well-drained will show no puddle of water remaining on the soil surface; all vegetables and herbs need soil that has good drainage

Wetting Agent:Compourd that reduces the droplet size and lowers the surface tension of the water, making it wetter.

Whirled:Sometimes more than two leaves arise from the same location (node) on a twig, the leaves may radiate from the twig like the spokes on wheel.

Wick: Part of a passive hydroponic system using a wick suspended in the nutrients solution, the nutrients pass up the wick and are absorbed by the medium and roots.

Wildcrafting: The gathering herbs, plants, fungi from the wild.

Wildlife Habitat: Wildlife Habitats.

Wilt: Wilting refers to the loss of rigidity of non-woody parts of plants. This occurs when the rate of loss of water from the plant is greater than the absorption of water in the plant.

Winter Interest: Gardening for winter interest is to add color, exfoliating bark, berries, and flowers that are interesting during the winter months. Winter Protection: Winer protection means to protect plants from cold, dry winds, and low winter temperatures to minimize plant damage or death. Container grown plants need winter protection to protect the roots from repeated freezing and thawing.

Woody: Having stems and branches that are made of wood.

Wound: An injury to living tissue caused by a cut, blow, or other impact, typically one in which the skin is cut or broken

Xericscaping: Xericaping is a type of garden or using a particular plant that tolerates a low moisture growing environment. Water-wise refers to the same concept or type of plant.

Xylem: A compound tissue in vascular plants that helps provide support and that conducts water and nutrients upward from the roots, consisting of tracheids, vessels, parenchyma cells, and woody fibers

Yellowing:There are many reasons to cause yellow leaves on plants: Too little water, insect pests, chlorosis, root issues or nutrient deficiencies, or lack of sunlight

Zone: A hardiness zone is a geographically-defined zone in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by temperature hardiness, or ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone.

Zone Denial:Risk takers…jk…Tony Avent…not kidding...

Garden Glossary

Environmental Partnerships: Leaf & Limb Tree Service and Care, Raleigh City Farm