|  Gardening
Glossary: E - G
Gardening terms can be difficult to understand
and can make reading books or articles on the subject less
informative than they would be otherwise. When you find
a term you don't understand, look it up in this glossary.
Let me know if you come across any term that doesn't appear
here and I will add it
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Earthing
Up: Drawing soil up around the stems of a plant,
eg potatoes, to blanch them or encourage root or tuber growth.
Emasculation:
The removal of anthers to stop self
pollination.
Epiphyte:
A plant that grows on another plant but is not a parasite
although has its roots above ground because it receives
nutrients and moisture from the atmosphere. Also see aerial
roots.
Ericaeous:
Either refers to members of the Erica family or to acid
loving plants or compost especially produced for growing
them in pots.
Espalier:
A system for growing plants, usually fruit trees, where
a plant has one single central stem or trunk with tiers
of branches on either side trained to present a flattened
aspect. Often used for growing trees against a wall.
Evergreen:
The opposite of deciduous, a plant
that does not shed leaves in winter or other period of dormancy.
Eye: Either
the centre of a flower or a dormant
or latent bud, eg the eye of a potato.
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F1
Hybrid: A first generation offspring obtained from
two selected purebred plants.
Family:
A plant classification containing related genera.
Fertilise:
Adding nutrients to the soil to promote growth and healthy
plants - fertiliser, either artificial or natural substance
that adds nutrients to the soil. Also the act of introducing
pollen to produce seed.
Fibrous:
A fine and sometimes dense root system.
Flat: In
the USA, a shallow seed tray.
Floret:
A small flower, usually, that forms part of a larger flowerhead.
Flower:
The part of the plant with reproductive parts usually with
petals. A double flower with one or
more rows of petals.
Force: Controlling
the environment, eg heat, to produce early flowers or fruit,
eg rhubarb.
Friable:
Easily worked good, crumbly soil.
Frond: Refers
to the leaf structure of a fern, sometimes to a palm too.
Frost
Pocket: A
small area, often with lower ground than its surroundings,
that is subject to lower temperatures making it particularly
likely to get frosts.
Fungicide:
A chemical for killing fungi, particularly those that cause
disease.
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Genus:
(plural genera) Part of the plant classification sysytem,
this is a category of related species.
See family.
Germination:
The springing into life of a seed.
Girdling:
The removal of bark by animals or by using a tie that is
too tight so preventing the flow of water and nutrients
so causing death of growth above the constriction.
Glaucous:
A plant with a blue-green, grey or white bloom on the surface.
Graft:
A method of joining plants together, for example fruit trees
are often grafted on to a more vigorous rootstock.
Green Manure:
A crop like mustard or rye grass that is grown for digging
back into the soil to enrich it.
Greenwood Cutting:
A cutting
taken of young tips, after the first flush of growth in
the spring has finished. They are somewhat hardier than
softwood cuttings.
Ground Cover:
Plants, usually low growing, that quickly cover the soil
and so suppress weeds.
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