Plant Gardens 101

A plant in the family Compositae, whose members have many small flowers packed tightly together into inflorescences that resemble single blossoms.

A long, curved, single-edged blade with a long bent handle, used for cutting tall grass or reaping grain.

Raised in a pot that is removed before planting.

The botanical name for palmetto.

The botanical name for running bamboo.

A tiny mothlike insect that feeds on sap. Whiteflies are particularly troublesome in greenhouses or in warm climates.

A British term for transplanting tiny seedlings by holding the leaves and using a small utensil to loosen the roots so as not to damage either the stem or the roots.

The botanical name for dogwood trees and shrubs and for the ground cover bunchberry.

A tree or shrub, especially a fruit tree such as an apple or a pear, repeatedly pruned and trained to grow on a support as a single ropelike stem.

A pronged tool for cultivating the soil.

A bristlelike appendage, especially on grass seeds.

The botanical name for firethorn.

The botanical name for wild ginger.

The junction between a stem awn and a leaf. Each axil contains an axillary bud, which may develop into a new shoot.

A softwood or semihardwood cutting made from the tip of a shoot, including the apical bud.

A storage organ, usually formed underground. The swollen portion consists mostly of fleshy, food-storing scales attached to a short flat stem. Onions, for example, are bulbs.

As part of a Latin name, means “blood colored.” For example, bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, has bright red sap in the roots. Blood-twig dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, has twigs with dark red bark.

Collectively, the petals of a flower.

The botanical name for pine.

The botanical name for sage.