Definitions 



Horticultural Definitions of a Few 

 Garden Words 



A SLIGHT misunderstanding of garden words that 

 are in everyday use may lead to confusion and 

 '"misinterpretation. Following are horticultural 

 definitions of garden words in common use: 



ANNUAL — An annual is a plant that grows from seed, and dies 

 root and branch with the perfection of its seed, all within the one 

 period of growth. Practically and in garden use, however, many 

 plants that are not annuals but which are treated as annuals inas- 

 much as they may be raised from seed and brought to flower within 

 the year, are included in this group. Salvia, for instance, which is 

 actually a perennial, is killed on the approach of frost. 



BIENNIAL — ^A plant that takes two years to attain maturity. 

 One that devotes its energies in the first year to the production of 

 a plant from the seed and after one resting period (winter) starts 

 into growth again for the purpose of producing flower and seed — 

 and then dies. Some biennials, if started early enough in spring, 

 will produce flowers late that same season, and so behave as garden 

 annuals. 



PERENNIAL — ^A plant that may live indefinitely. A plant that 

 does not die after producing its seed, and in which the death of the 

 flowering axis causes the development of offsets, and through the 

 increase or spread of a plant, continues to live many years. 



HERBACEOUS — A plant that does not make woody tissue. Hence 

 a herbaceous perennial is a plant that makes a succulent growth 

 each year and which, never becoming woody, dies down. The root 

 in such a plant persists and carries on the life. Everything that dies 

 down in winter and comes up again the following season, is a her- 

 baceous perennial. A hardy perennial is merely an expression of 

 relative hardiness in the climate in which the plant is grown. 



HARDY — Meaning that the plant can endure the winter weather con- 

 ditions under which it finds itself. A plant may be hardy or not 

 hardy within a very short range, according to exposure, soil 

 conditions, drainage, etc. 



TREE — A woody perennial that arises from the ground on a single 

 trunk or stem, thus differing from a shrub. 



SHRUB — A woody perennial that arises from the ground by means 

 of more than one stem from the root. According to the environ- 

 ments some plants may vary between different classifications. Thus 

 the Summer Lilac (Buddleia), in the North, is regarded as a 

 hardy herbaceous perennial; in the South, it becomes in practice 

 a shrub. Another instance of a popular plant on the border line 

 is Bush Clover (Lespedeza). 



