Direct Gardening Association Glossary

Most readers, even new gardeners, will find garden catalogs easy to read. They don't use much technical language as a rule, but there are a few terms you frequently see that it helps to know. Here is a short glossary of a few important words and phrases.

Annuals: Vegetables or flowers that grow for only one season and need to be replanted from seed or plants each spring.

Award Winners: This designation in a catalog refers usually to a few important honors awarded to superior new plant varieties. The AAS awards (given to new flowers and vegetables) and the AARS awards (given to new rose varieties) are the two major awards referred to in catalogs. Both involve judging by professionals in gardens across the country There are also numerous other awards given by plant societies In general, the gardener can count on winners of such awards to be new varieties of special merit.

Bareroot Plants: Planting stock shipped dormant without any soil around the roots. Roses, shrubs, berry plants, trees, and many perennials are often shipped in this form.

Bolting: Bolting is when a plant starts to send up a flower stalk. Garden vegetables such as lettuce need to be harvested prior to bolting, which is brought on by warm temperatures.

Climate Zones (Hardiness Zones): The U.S. Department of Agriculture has divided the country into "climate" or "hardiness" zones numbered 1 through 10, and catalogs often reprint the zone map so you can determine the zone in which your home is located. The zones are determined by average minimum temperatures. Plant descriptions in catalogs usually reference a plant's zone range. In selecting a plant for your garden, it is important to make sure your home zone is within the plant's range.

Common Names: The popular, non-botanical names used for a plant. "Baby's Breath", for example, is the common name for "gypsophila."

Days to Maturity: This phrase, seen in seed catalogs, tells you approximately how long it takes a variety to produce harvestable fruits or vegetables. One confusion is that it sometimes refers to when you plant the seed, or to when you transplant seedlings to the garden (usually this in the case of vegetable plants that are customarily started early indoors, such as tomatoes, and then moved to the garden). The day number, of course, is only approximate because climate, soil, and other factors come into play The number is most useful as a comparative, to determine which varieties require a longer or shorter season to reach maturity

Determinate or Indeterminate: These terms refer to growth habit and are generally seen in seed catalog descriptions of tomatoes and squashes. Determinate vines grow to a certain length and stop. Indeterminate vines continue to grow in length through the season, so require more space.

Disease Resistant or Disease Tolerant: Catalog descriptions often indicate a variety's ability to tolerate or resist common diseases. "Resistant" is the stronger of the two terms, but neither indicate that a plant will be totally immune.

Exclusives: Certain plant varieties offered in catalogs are labeled as "exclusives." The term means that the plant is offered only by that particular company

Field-Grown: This term refers to rootstocks or root divisions that are more mature and developed because they have been in the ground for a full season or more. Rooted cuttings, on the other hand, have been grown in pots in a shadehouse or greenhouse.

Grafted Plants: Plants where the variety has been grafted onto a different rootstock variety Usually the term is used in reference to roses and trees. The upper portion of the grafted plant is the particular variety, and the rooted portion is another variety chosen for hardiness and long life.

Green Plants: Planting stock grown in nursery pots (also referred to as potted plants), and delivered actively growing rather than dormant, as with "bareroot" stock.

Hardiness: This term refers to a variety's ability to withstand winter temperatures. The hardier the variety, the colder the temperatures it will tolerate.

Hybrids: Plant varieties created by cross breeding two different plant varieties.

Naturalizing: This term is seen most often in bulb catalogs, and sometimes in perennial catalogs. It refers to plants or bulbs that can be planted and then left to grow naturally It usually implies that the plants are especially self-reliant, needing no special cultivation or tending, and that they will come back year after year in increased numbers. Most daffodil varieties, all of the species of wild tulips, muscari and crocuses are bulbs used for naturalizing. In landscaping, naturalized plantings create a wildflower look, as opposed to a cultivated garden look. Wildflower seeds, of course, are perfect for planting in a naturalized setting.

Open-Pollinated (O.P.): This term is generally seen in seed catalogs. It refers to seeds that come from plants that have been naturally pollinated in the field. Unlike hybrid varieties, these plants will produce seeds that grow true to variety, which means the fruit they produce will be the same as that of the parent. If you save the seeds from these varieties and plant them again the following year, you will develop a strain that is adapted to your particular soil and climate.

Perennials: Plants that grow back year after year from the original roots or from self-seeding. Some perennials are tender and need to be dug in the fall and stored for the winter, but can be replanted in the spring. If a plant is sufficiently hardy for your climate, it can simply be left in the ground and will grow again in the spring.

Plant Patent Numbers: Plant patent numbers are often referred to in catalogs. They have little importance for the gardener. New plants, like inventions, can be patented, and these patents are referenced to protect the creator's ownership. They are an indication to the gardener that the plant variety may be an exclusive and not available from other sources.

Potted Plants: Green stock in nursery pots. Usually the plant size is referenced by pot size.

Resistance: A plant's resistance refers to its ability to withstand all or certain diseases for a length of time without suffering serious damage.

Root Divisions: Planting stock in the form of dormant roots. They are called "divisions," because harvested root clumps are divided into viable portions.

Rooted Cuttings: Plants propagated by means of cuttings from other plants that are rooted and grown in individual pots, usually in a greenhouse or shadehouse.

Tolerance: This term has a meaning similar to that of "resistance." It means that a plant may get a certain disease, but that it will perform despite the problem.

Treated Seeds: Some varieties of seeds sold in catalogs will be designated as "treated." This means they have been treated in some manner for purposes of disease control. Though it is unlikely that one would do so, be sure that treated seeds are never ingested, for they could be toxic.

Variety Names: A varietal name is the botanical or "scientific" name of a particular plant, and is usually printed in italic type. For example, Helianthus annuus 'Teddy Bear' is the botanical name for a variety of dwarf sunflower. "Helianthus" is the genus, "annuus" the species, and "Teddy Bear" the variety