Herbaceous terms demystified

March 4, 2007

As a young, fledgling gardener, I listened to presentations and nodded my head with a grave look of understanding as gardening vocabulary flew over my head. Heaven forbid I should ask what it meant to &#8220double dig” or &#8220heel” something in.

I was convinced, at the sound of my

ignorant voice, a whole room of gardeners would gasp and turn their collective heads in my direction. I couldn't bear the thought.

I've recovered from this insecurity, however, and now find the world of gardening quite interesting.

To start at the beginning - annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. The word annual often is interchanged with bedding plants. The

distinction is that bedding plants can include any plant that has quick, colorful and abundant flowers that are suitable for growing in beds.

Perennials are plants that live for more than one growing

season, usually over three years. In many books, the term tender or half-hardy perennial refers to a plant that is damaged by sub-freezing temperatures and must be lifted or brought in during cold snaps. When we make this

reference here, we are more often talking about a perennial that may make it a winter or two, but is not likely to have longevity. These plants also may be referred to as non-thrifty or non-thriving. They may grow, but will never be happy.

Herbaceous is another common term, and simply means plants that are soft, without woody parts. In Alaska, to refer to a plant as an herbaceous perennial means the plant will die down to the ground completely and sprout up again in the spring. This is a distinction from evergreen perennials such as Bergenia, that keep their leaves from season to season and come out of the snow much like they went in.

Biennials are plants that take two seasons to complete their life cycle. Typically, they will grow green leaves the first year and flower as well as go to seed the following year.

Common examples are foxglove and mulling. Many biennials seed themselves freely, giving them the appearance of wandering

perennials.

For the sake of brevity, I'll skip the tree and shrub vocabulary and move on to terms about tending the garden, but be reminded that you can go to dirtdivasgardening.com for more information.

Double digging is the process of digging out the top spade depth of soil, forking it over and then digging and amending (adding additional nutrients such as compost) another spade depth beneath it. The original portion is then returned to the top of the amended lower soil.

If you've still got some energy, why not move on to a French ditch? This is a very small U-shaped ditch, about six inches deep and eight inches across the top, that borders a planting. It is used primarily for plantings that are surrounded by grass to keep it from encroaching. It is an age-old European practice and is quite beautiful if done

correctly.

Heeling in refers to a temporary planting procedure where plants are laid on their side with their roots in a trench of loose dirt, until they can be planted in a permanent location, and does not refer to crunching plants beneath your heels, as I once supposed.

Dead-heading does not mean to follow The Grateful Dead around the country screaming your lungs out, but rather removing dead flower heads from your garden. This process keeps plants blooming longer and fuller.

This is not to be confused with heading back, which means to cut out older branches or stems to make room for new growth, usually on shrubs or mature perennials.

This term, likewise, should not be confused with pinching back, or pinching out, which refer to the technique of removing the soft growth at the tip of a growing plant, usually a young annual, to encourage bushier, fuller plant growth.

Similarly, pollarding means to cut back one-or two-year-old growth to the same place each year, thus keeping a plant the same size. This term is

generally used in reference to trees.

Root pruning is the process - oops! This is a long one with several usages and I'm out of room. Darn! I was just warming up.

But, perhaps you're tantalized a bit. Good.

You'll have to go to online garden glossaries and old fashioned books with good references. Some even have great illustrations. Practice talking &#8220garden” to your dog, and you'll be babbling like a pro before the snow melts.

Sally Koppenberg is a garden and food designer and the owner of Stonehill Gardens, a nursery & catering company specializing in Alaska Grown foods, trees, shrubs, perennials and native plants.