Copy of `Bee Better - Garden glossary`

The wordlist doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

Bee Better - Garden glossary Category: Agriculture and Industry > Garden terms Date & country: 23/06/2018, UK Words: 553

Acid
An acid or sour substance that has a pH below 7.0.

Acidic soil
Acidic soil

Aeration
Refers tot he 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.

Aeration
Supplying soil and roots with air or oxygen.

Aerobic
With oxygen. Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen.

Aeroponics
Growing plants by misting roots suspended in air.

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

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

Aggregate
Clumps of inorganic material of varying size.

Aggressive
Referring to a plant’s active growth behavior.

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

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.

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.

Alkaline soil
The pH 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.

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

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.

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.

Antiphlogistic
A substance that functions to relieve inflammation and fever.

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

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

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

Apetalous
A flower having no pedal, such as a Lindera sp.

Apomixis
Asexual reproduction in plants, in particular agamospermy.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Asexual
Propagation with out pollination.

Ascending
Describes an upright growth habit.

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.

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.

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

Bacteria
Very small, one-celled organisms.

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 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.

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.

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

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

Bloom
A flower, especially one cultivated for its beauty.

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

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.

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

Botany
The scientific study of plants.

Boxwood hedgeShearing
Something cut off by shearing. Pruning boxwoods is a good example.

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

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

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

Bonsai
A very short or dwarfed plant.

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.

Broadcast
To spread fertilizer over a large growing area.

Broadleaved Evergreens
A plant with leaves year-round.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 Blight
A withering condition that attacks flower buds.

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

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

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.

Carnivorous Plant
A plant that attracts and consumes insects.

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.

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

Cambium
Tissue in the plant that produces new cells.

Cane
A hollow or pithy jointed, wood stem.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Chlorine
Chemical used to purify water.

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

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.

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.”

Clone
An identical reproduction of the parent plant.

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

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.

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