Soil with a pH value of more than 7.0.
Annual:
A plant that completes its life cycle in one year or season.
Apex:
The tip of a stem.
Arbor:
A shady garden shelter or bower, often made of rustic wood or latticework on which vines, roses, etc. are grown.
Arboretum:
A landscaped space where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific study, educational purposes, and to foster appreciation of plants.
Axil:
The area between a leaf and the stem from which the leaf arises.
Bacillus Thuringiensis(BT):
Biological Control
Beneficial Biological Controls:
Insects and organic chemicals
Biennial:
A plant that typically takes two years to complete it's life cycle.
Budding:
A form of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud on another one.
Bulb:
An underground plant structure that contains nutrients, energy and seed to produce a plant.
Cambrium Layer:
The thin layer of growing cells between the xylem and phloem.
Chlorosis:
Iron deficiency
Clay:
A soil particle which is plate-like, extremely small and may retain nutrients well.
Clod:
A lump of clay which is difficult to break apart.
Cold Hardy:
Capable of withstanding cold weather conditions.
Compost:
A soil product created from decomposed garden material, used in flower beds to add nutrients and encourage good growth.
Cultivar:
A cultivated variety of a plant selected for some feature that distinguishes it from
the species from which it was selected.
Cultivation:
Turning the soil to provide better air circulation or to control weeds.
Dead Heading:
Removing dead flowers before they set seed.
Deciduous:
Having leaves that fall off or are shed
seasonally to avoid adverse weather conditions such as cold or drought.
Defoliation:
The process when a plant looses all its leaves.
Dethatching:
Removing thatches in grass; removal of the dead grass.
Die Back:
Tips of branches decline due to lack of moisture or disease.
Dormancey:
When a plant reaches a dormant period, usually in winter.
Drainage:
The downward movement of water passing through soil.
Drip Line:
Outmost branch tips where the water would land to feed the tree.
Drought Tolerant:
The ability of a plant to thrive without much water.
Epiphyte:
A plant that lives on a host plant but draws nutrients from the air.
Espalier:
A flat or fan like like trellis.
Established Plant:
When the plant is fully rooted.
Evergreen:
A plant whose leaves or needles are green year-round.
Fertilizer:
A material added to feed plants rich in nutrients, usually nitrogen (often lost with frequent mowing), phosphates and potash.
Fescue:
Soft compact fine-leafed grasses.
Flower Form:
Structure of a flower, i.e. single, semi, double.
Foundation Plant: plant that is used to frame around a house or structure and connect it to the rest of the landscape.
Frond:
A large leaf with multiple divisions.
Fungicide:
The chemical used to control a fungus-related disease.
Germination:
The sprouting of a seed, spore or pollen grain.
Genus:
A subdivion of a family or subfamily in the classification of organisms.
Girdling:
Also called ring-barking, is the removal of bark around the circumference of the tree in a ring. The result is a slow death to the part of the tree or woody plant above the damage.
Grading:
The process of changing the slope level of an area of soil.
Grafting:
Combining the vascular tissues of two plants to form a hybrid by placing a portion of one plant (called a bud or scion) into or on a stem, root, or branch of another (called the stock) in such a way that a union forms and the partners continue to grow.
Ground Cover:
Plants which are low-growing and create a blanket appearance over an area.
Growing Season:
The period each year when the plant grows.
Hardscape:
Walkways, planters, and areas made of hard material like concrete or rocks that is incorporated into the landscape and balances with the 'softscape'.
Hardy:
Plants that can survive difficult conditions like frost and severe cold.
Hedge:
A variety of shrubs that when planted close together will give a wall-like appearance; often used to separate areas.
Herbaceous:
Having little or no woody tissue. Most plants grown as perennials or annuals are herbaceous.
Herbicide:
A chemical used to control weeds.
Horticulture:
The science of growing plants, flowers, trees, shrubs, fruit, & grasses.
Hybrid:
A plant or group of plants that results from the interbreeding of two distinct cultivars,
varieties, species, or genera.
Indigenous:
Occurring naturally in a particular place. Native.
Iron:
A mineral used in keeping grass green.
Irrigation:
Applying water to vegetation and landscape to help it thrive.
Leader:
The primary shoot of a plant.
Leaf Burn:
A plant disease that causes a burnt appearance.
Leaf Mold:
A fungal disease of plants in which mold develops on the leaves.
Lime:
Calcium material used to raise the pH in soil.
Macronutrients:
Essential elements needed in large amounts for healthy plant growth: nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Micro Climate:
The climate of a small area that is different than the climate of the surrounding area.
Micronutrients:
Essential elements needed in very small amounts for healthy plant growth: iron, copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum, chlorine, and cobalt.
Mulch:
A material used to cover soil for moisture conservation and weed suppression.
Native Plant:
A plant that lives or grows naturally in a particular region without direct or indirect
human intervention. Indigenous.
Node:
The part of a plant stem from which one or more leaves emerge.
Organic Fertilizer:
Compounds derived from decomposition of plant and animal products and include blood meal, bone meal, manure, and sewage sludge.
Organic Matter:
Biological material in the process of decaying or decomposing.
Osmosis:
When water travels across a membrane.
Peatmoss:
A bog like moss processed to be used in potting soils and helps assimilate nutrients for the plant.
Perennial:
Persisting for several years, usually dying back to a perennial crown during the winter and initiating new growth each spring.
Pesticide:
A chemical used to control an organism.
pH:
The acidity and alkalinity of soil.
Phloem:
One of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, xylem is the other.
Photosynthesis:
The process in which plants convert sunlight energy into chemical energy that can be used as fuel to aid in plant development.
Planter:
The defined area, commonly raised and composed of wood or concrete, used to grow plants.
Plant Family:
A plant that belongs to a family that shares the same broad characterisitcs.
Polladring:
A pruning meathod in which a a tree's top branches are cut back to the trunk so that it may produce a dense growth of new shoots.
Pollen:
A fine powdery substance consisting of microscopic grains discharged from the male part of a flower or from a male cone.
Pollenation:
The process in which pollen is transferred.
Pollenator Bees:
Bees that transfer pollen.
Pollenizer:
A plant that supplies pollen.
Pruning:
A method of cutting parts of a plant off to control size, health and appearance.
Pseudo Bulb:
A storage organ derived from the part of a stem between two leaf nodes.
Re-foliate:
Term used for when a plant grows new leaves after a leafless period, usually in the spring.
Rhizome:
A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes.
Root Bound:
A plant that has grown too large for its container resulting in matting or tangling of the roots.
Rootstock:
The part of a budded or grafted plant that furnishes the root system. Also called 'understock'.
Rosette:
A circular arrangement of leaves or petals.
Scion:
A detached shoot or twig used in grafting.
Shrub:
A low-growing woody plant, usually under 15 feet that often has multiple stems.
Shock:
A term used to describe a plant that has been impacted by change, i.e. transplanting, weather, too much or too little water, frost, etc.
Sod:
Small areas of turf ready for transplant to new locations. Often used to start a new lawn.
Softscape:
Vegetation used in landscaping which balances with 'hardscape'. Includes trees, flowers, grasses, shrubs.
Species:
Plant organisms with similar traits capable of off-spring.
Specimen:
An individual plant used to represent a class or genus or plants.
Sphagnum:
A genus of 120 species of mosses, commonly called peat moss, that survives well in wet, acidic soil.
Spore:
Typically a one-celled, reproductive unit capable of giving rise to a new individual plant.
Spur:
A projecting root or branch.
Standard:
A tree or shrub that grows to full height.
Stolon:
A stem, at or just below the surface of the ground, that produces new plants from buds at it's tips or nodes.
Stress:
The negative impact of non-living forces on a plant.
Sucker:
A secondary shoot produced from the base or roots of a woody plant that gives rise to a new plant.
Tap Root:
An enlarged root, that grows downward and forms a center which other roots sprout laterally.
Tender:
A delicate plant that is usually sensitive to frost or severe cold.
Temperature Tolerance:
Cold or heat, the degree at which a plant can handle temperatures and survive.
Thatch:
The live or dead layer of roots and stems between the turf of a lawn and the soil.
Thinning:
Pruning or removing some branches in a uniform way throughout a tree or shrub.
Topiary:
A decorative style of plant growth controlled by shaping with pruning or shearing.
Transplant:
Moving a plant from one location to another.
Tree:
A woody perennial plant having a single, usually elongated main stem or trunk with
few or no branches on its lower part.
Tuber:
A thickened, underground stem or rhizome which stores nutrients.
Turf:
A ground cover of grass.
Variegation:
A pattern of leaves that contains either white or yellow markings.
Variety:
A sub-species of plant.
Vegetation:
A general term for all plant life.
Water Sprout:
A nonflowering shoot arising from a branch or axil of a tree or shrub.
Aloe vera is considered semi-tropical and thrives in warm, dry climates. It can grow from the
