| Term |
Definition |
| Aerify |
To use a piece of equipment to open holes in the soil under a lawn. |
| Amendment |
Any material that is added to the soil to improve its texture, drainage, or fertility. |
| Annual |
A plant that lives its complete life cycle in one year. |
| Anthracnose |
A fungal disease of plants, usually made worse by very wet conditions like a very rainy springtime. It can cause a range of damage from spots on foliage to complete defoliation. If the plant is heavily affected, be sure it has adequate nutrients to help it renew the leaves it has lost. Rake all debris from the plant and dispose of it to prevent re-infection. |
| Aphids |
soft-bodied insects that suck the fluids from plants, often spreading viral disease as they do so.
|
| Basal bud |
A bump of growth tissue that forms in the crown of a plant. |
| Basal foliage |
The leaves that grow around the crown of a plant. |
| Botrytis |
A necrotic fungus made worse by humid or wet conditions. It is particularly a problem on grapes, strawberries and bulbs, but can occur on many plants. Any steps which improve air circulation and the drying of the foliage, such as thinning and elevating the plant above the surrounding soil, will help to solve the problem.
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| Biennial |
A plant that completes its life cycle in two years. Typically it germinates and forms a rosette during the first year, then sets flowers and seeds the second year, then dies. |
| Branch collar |
A swollen area of tissue at the base of a side branch where it connects to a larger branch or the trunk. Contains the cells that will heal the pruning wound. |
| Cane |
A long straight woody stem, usually erupting from the crown of the plant. |
| Chickweed |
A cold season weed, host to spider mites; bright yellow green foliage, insignificant white flowers. |
| Cover crop |
A crop that is planted in the fall on bare beds to enrich the soil and to keep it from eroding. Many cover crops are in the legume family. |
| Crown |
The part of the plant that is between the roots and the top of the plant. |
| Cut back |
To cut off a portion of a branch or stem during pruning. Generally used to reduce the height of perennials and encourage compact growth. |
| Deadhead |
To remove the spent flowers to promote further blooming, and improve the plant’s appearance.
A general term. Pinching, shearing, cutting back to a flower bud and stem cutting are all methods of deadheading.
|
| Deadleaf |
To remove damaged foliage from a plant. |
| Deciduous |
A plant that loses its leaves in winter but does not die as a result. Loosely, the opposite of evergreen. |
| Divide |
To cut a plant through top, crown, and root ball into two or more pieces to control size or to propagate asexually. |
| Dormant |
In a state of suspended animation; plants, particularly deciduous plants, greatly reduce their growth in winter to withstand the climatic conditions.
There is usually no visible sign of plant activity. |
| Dripline |
The area at the perimeter of the plant canopy. So named because water from irrigation or rain drips off the plant at the perimeter. |
| Freeze dates - Nov. 10/April 10 |
The average date of the first hard freeze in the fall /the last hard freeze in the spring. |
| Full sun |
6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. |
| Glysophate |
A chemical used to kill vegetation; non-specific. Round-up was the first product of this kind for home use, but there are now many other brands and
generics available. Works only on actively growing plants by translocation: the plant moves the chemical throughout its system with the result that
both roots and tops are killed. If spraying on lawns for weed control, be very sure that they are still completely dormant. |
| Gravel, colored |
To mark bulbs during their dormant season, use colored aquarium gravel sparsely scattered over the entire patch of ground that contains the bulbs. The bright stones will act as an alert to avoid digging into the bulbs for new plantings. Using two colors will let you know which areas contain deeply planted bulbs such as tulips and daffodils, where small plants could go, and which areas contain shallow bulbs and can only be safely overplanted by seeding. The unnatural looking rocks can be lightly covered with mulch and will still show up at the first approach of a shovel. |
| Grasses: Cool season/Warm season |
Grasses which grow actively in cool weather and tend to go dormant in high temperatures. They include the fescues, bluegrass, bentgrass, and perennial rye.
Grasses which grow actively in warm and hot weather and tend to be dormant in cooler temperatures. They include bermudagrass, buffalograss, and zoysia. |
| Groom |
To clean up the garden or plant so that it looks its best. |
| Heel in |
To place a plant’s root ball into the soil as a temporary way of holding the plant before final planting. |
| Henbit |
A cold season weed, host to spider mites; purple flowers in spring. |
| Herbaceous |
Herbaceous plants are those plants composed of soft tissues. This includes most perennials, annuals, and biennials. |
| Hoop house |
A structure to provide shelter for plants during the winter; constructed of arcs of support material, such as PVC pipe covered with plastic
and fastened to the soil; an inexpensive temporary green house. |
| Horticultural oil - superfine or ultrafine, dormant |
Refined oils which are sprayed on plants to smother pests. The older form,
dormant oil, was heavy and had to be used within a very tight temperature range, typically in winter to avoid damaging the plant tissues.
The newer superfine horticultural oils, also called ultarfine horticultural oils, are much lighter and have a wider safe temperature range. |
| Lateral bud |
A bump of swollen tissue on the side of a stem from which leaves or flowers will erupt. |
| Leaf miner |
A pest of columbine and other plants; visible as white squiggles within the leaves. Controlled by cutting back affected foliage and bagging for trash removal. |
| Leaf node |
The modified tissue swelling on a stem from which a new leaf or group of leaves erupt. Of this is also the point of emergence of flower stems. |
| Mulch |
Mulch is a material that is applied to the soil around a plant. It may be an organic material such as bark chips, wood shreds, plant hulls, pine needles, or newspaper, or it may be something inorganic, such as plastic or gravel. It is applied to reduce weeds, control soil temperature, reduce evaporation, and give a clean and uniform background for a garden bed. |
| Organic matter |
The remains of living organisms. When referring to gardening, it refers to all plant matter and animal by products, but no flesh or fat. |
| Perennial |
A plant that lives for more than one year. |
| pH (see Soil pH) |
The acidity or alkalinity of a material. |
| Pinch |
To remove the spent bloom or the growth tip of a plant by pinching it off with the fingers. It encourages rebloom and compact growth. |
| Powdery mildew |
A fungal disease that affects many plants. |
| Pre-emergent |
A chemical applied to prevent the germination and establishment of seeds. This will prevent new plants from establishing, but will have little
effect on established plants. |
| Renovate |
To refresh a plant’s condition by pruning and/or division. |
| Rhizomatous stem |
A prostrate stem that modifies itself into a rooting structure as it contacts the ground. |
| Sanitation |
The cleaning of infected tools and clothing and the immediate removal of diseased material and excess prunings from the garden. The prunings can go into the compost heap, but diseased materials need to be bagged and removed from the site. Tools can be disinfected in a 10% chlorine bleach solution. |
| Scale |
Sucking insect pests, scale need to be controlled early. Keep a careful watch on susceptible plants. Other than selecting resistant varieties of new plants, the most effective control is the use of ultrafine horticultural oil, usually requiring at least 3 applications 6-7 days apart until no new scale is detected. |
| Seed leaves |
A germinating seed first produces leaves that are atypical to the mature leaves of the species. These leaves help to nourish the plant as it begins its development. |
| Seven-Day rule |
This “rule” is more correctly a guideline for deciding how much to remove from a plant. It suggests to busy gardeners with limited available labor, that when deadheading a plant, remove all blooms that will not be in prime condition in seven days, the next probable time they will get a visit. Use with discretion. |
| Shade |
Part shade is a non-specific term that refers to the light quality in an area that receives less than 6-8 hours of direct sunlight in a day.
High shade refers to an area under a shade canopy which still receives a reasonable amount of direct or reflected light.
Filtered shade refers to the dappled light that comes through a light canopy of leaves. No area receives bright direct light for any sustained period, but a useful diffuse light is received for a large part of the day.
Full shade describes an area that receives little or no direct sunlight.
|
| Shear |
To remove with garden shears or other trimming device an even amount of growth over the entire plant. Used to cut back a plant with too many stems to make individual stem cuts practical. |
| Slow-release |
A garden product that releases its active ingredients slowly because of some environmental factor such as temperature or moisture. An example is Osmocote fertilizer. |
| Soil/Bed preparation |
The practice of removing unwanted vegetation from an area , mixing desired amendments such as organic matter into the soil, then smoothing the soil to the desired grade. |
| Soil pH |
The acidity or alkalinity of the soil. The pH affects the plant’s ability to take up essential nutrients. The optimum pH varies from species to species. In general, most plants will grow in a soil pH of 6.5-7.0. |
| Soilless mix |
A compound of various growing media designed to be used in plant pots. The mixes may contain organic matter, vermiculite, perlite, sand, fertilizers, expanded shale, and other materials. It will not contain soil. The mixes tend to be lighter than soil, and free of the disease pathogens which could harm young plants |
| Soil reservoir |
The soil that directly surrounds and contains the roots of a plant; roots can only be affected by the condition of the soil reservoir. |
| Soluble fertilizer |
A fertilizer product that will dissolve in water. Examples are Miracle Gro and Hyponex. |
| Spider mites |
Sucking insect pests, they cause flecking to graying of leaves, leaf loss, and even death. They tend to proliferate in hot dry weather. Because they are preyed upon by
beneficial insects, the use of most insecticides does more harm than good. Keep plants properly irrigated, and use strong streams of water to blast the mites off of badly
infested plants. Ultrafine horticultural oils are an effective remedy.
|
| Stem back |
To cut back the flowering stem of a plant to the next growth point, either a leaf node or to the crown. |
| Stratify |
To pretreat seed to promote germination. With very early flowers, this often means subjecting the seed to a period of freezing before planting.
|
| Tender perennial |
A true perennial with a predictably long life in the proper climate, but unable to endure the extremes of the climate in which it will be grown.
Many of the plants we know as annuals are actually tender perennials. |
| Terminal bud |
The swollen bump of tissue at the tip of a stem or branch. |
| Thrips |
A tiny insect that rasps plant tissue to cause the plant juices to flow. The insect feeds on the juice. |
| Top dress |
To scatter material at the base of a plant without working it into the surrounding soil. |
| Transplant |
To dig up a plant and replant it elsewhere. |
| True leaves |
The leaves which follow the seed leaves, but are typical of the plant’s mature leaves. |
| Turf |
Grasses growing as a unit; a lawn. |
| Two-Month rule |
In the absence of good information on when to prune flowering shrubs and trees, the Two-Month Rule suggests to prune within the first
two months after the plant finishes blooming. That should give the plant sufficient time for the wood to mature and produce blooms
the following year. |
| Verticut |
To use a piece of equipment that has vertical blades to remove thatch and open up the soil in a lawn. |
| Winter dormancy |
The state of reduced growth and function which permits the plant to survive the extremes of winter. |
| Winter over |
To live through the weather conditions of winter and return to vitality the following year. |
| Work up |
To clear a space of undesirable plants and other materials, dig deeply, top with amendments and work the amendments thoroughly through
the soil. After working up, the bed must be brought to grade, or smoothed to the desired finished surface. |
| Xeric |
Derived from the Greek for dry, xeric means plants which use minimal supplemental irrigation or absolutely prefer a dry growing situation. |
| Xeriscaping |
Pioneered in Denver, xeriscaping is a series of practices used to reduce the amount of supplemental irrigation used in gardens. The practices need to
be carefully considered with the climatic conditions of the particular area in which the garden is sited. |
| Zones, Cold/Heat |
The American Horticultural Society has developed a map of the amount of heat expected in a given area or zone. Individual plants are rated for their heat zone tolerance. Tulsa is AHS Heat Zone 8.
The United States Department of Agriculture long ago developed a map of the amount of cold expected in a given area or zone. Individual plants are rated for their cold zone tolerance. Tulsa has just recently been changed from USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6B to Zone 7. Cautious people would probably still use the Zone 6B rating for long term plants such as major trees.
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| 80/20 rule |
The 80/20 rule applies to plants that produce small flowers whether they are held in umbles or produced in a mass of stems that are too numerous to be removed individually.
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