When you first start becoming interested in plants and gardening, you'll encounter all kinds of plant words, terms and phrases that are hard to understand. What does it all mean??? As a beginner plant mama and gardener, here are some easy to understand definitions to plant terminology and gardening words.
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Botanical name - this is the Latin, scientific name given to that species of plant. This helps to identify specific types of plants all over the world, since there are many common names of plants in different areas. In addition, this helps to identify plants that may have different names in different languages around the world.
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Deciduous - a plant which loses its leaves in the winter. The leaves will then come back in the springtime.
Drought-tolerant - plants that are drought-tolerant can withstand being without water for a long time. They do not require a lot of moisture to survive. Cactus and succulents are a good example of drought-tolerant plants, however, there are many more. These types of plants are treasured by the lazy gardener in Texas, because it means you don't have to keep them supplied with water as often. They are low maintenance.
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Evergreen - when referencing a plant, this term means a plant which will not lose its leaves in the winter. Often, the plant stays green the whole year, so it is ever-green.
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Foliage - refers to the leaves and stems of a plant, not it's flowers or fruit.
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Hardy - When looking up info on different plants, you'll see words like "hardy" and "hardiness". This is telling you that the plant can live outside in the winter up to that zone. So, if it says "hardy to zone 9", then it will be okay planted outside in Houston (which is classified as Zone 9a). But, if you tried to plant it in Amarillo (zone 7), it would likely die in the cold weather Amarillo gets in the winter time.
Hardiness Zone - The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is overseen by the National Arboretum. It has divided the United States into zones based on what the lowest winter temperature that area typically gets. This dictates what type of plant can grow and survive there outside.
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Lazy Texas Garden - a garden and plant mama ideal lifestyle which is designed to be beautiful, low maintenance and enjoyable all year round. Plants which are happy to be ignored at sporadic periods when life beckons in a different direction. A no-pressure, no-guilt way of enjoying indoor and outdoor plants, flowers, edibles, herbs, trees and backyards.
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Native - indicates that this plant originates from that area. For example, a Texas native plant has always grown wild in Texas. It did not have to be brought to Texas from another area of the world.
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Origin - refers to the area of the Earth that this plant is native to, where it comes from and grows wild.
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Plant origin - refers to the area of the Earth that this plant is native to, where it comes from and grows wild.
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Texas native - a Texas native plant has always grown wild in Texas. It did not have to be brought to Texas from another area of the world. These plants are treasured by lazy gardeners living in Texas, because native plants are accustomed to the conditions here. For example, Texas lilac trees (vitex, chaste trees) have shown they are happy living in very hot, humid and sometimes really rainy spots in Houston. They will require less care and attention than a tree or plant brought from somewhere else. Native plants also contribute to the health of local wildlife and insects.
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Variegated - indicates the foliage (leaves) or flowers have more than one color on them.
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