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Glossary of gardening terms

Have you ever been in the company of someone and can go for ages and not have a clue what they are talking about. This happens when the person is fanatical about a subject that you know very little or nothing about. The same problem can arise when using terms that are common in the gardening world, but rarely used anywhere else. Such as the word loam, this just means a mixture of sand, clay and organic matter…soil in other words. Using key words is a great idea when you are trying to charge customers more for your time as a landscape gardener or garden designer, the same is probably true in most professions. An old lecturer told me once that all I had to do was to learn three or four Latin words for plants and if used at the right time in a conversation would make me sound like a professional.

Here are a few words to use if you want to impress the neighbours.

Aerate -This is when the soil is loosened with a fork or machine to allow air and water into the ground
Biennial –This is a plant that usually lives for two years. It flowers and going to seed in the second year.
Dormancy is when a plant has a rest in winter.
Elaeagnus ebbingei -A hardy variegated shrub.
Germinate means the sprouting of a seed.
Herbaceous a plant with soft, rather than woody stems.
Hydroponics. This is when a plant is grown in a liquid instead of soil.
Perennial means a non-woody plant that lives longer than two years.
Topiary is where shrubs are pruned to a particular shape, for example animals.
Variegated leaves have two or more different colours.

Armed with these few words I can guarantee the neighbours wont keep you talking, they will be making any excuse to leave...

Emilycompost has more big words in her glossary...

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