The Coastal Gardener:

Whether you’re trying to match a plant in your garden, research a shrub online, read a catalog or talk with other gardeners or nursery staff, you will be confronted with what may seem a disorganized barrage of plant terminology and botanical expressions.

When these unfamiliar terms pop up, it’s helpful to understand a little about what they mean and why they are used. If nothing else, tossing around a little botanical vocabulary will be sure to impress the riff-raff at the local garden club.

First up are “botanical names.” These are the scientific names assigned to all life on Earth, both plants and animals, and are recognized internationally. Pittosporum tobira means precisely the same thing in Japan, Italy or Australia as it does at the local garden center. Even if you’re not sure about the pronunciation of a botanical name, as long as you’re close, the plant mentioned can never be confused. For example, if someone says they have a hawthorn, it might be any one of several different plants. But if someone says they have a Rhaphiolepis indica we know precisely what plant they have.

All plants in the world have a two-word botanical name. Furthermore, no two plants have the same botanical name. The first word, such as Rhaphiolepis, is always the genus. The second word, indica, is always the species. “Common names” are what most people use when talking about plants and they are usually adequate for general conversation, but they do have limitations. Botanical names are much more precise.

Another name a gardener will see is “cultivar.” This is simply a shortening of two words: cultivated variety, and refers to a very specific version of a plant species that was created by humans. Cultivars do not occur naturally; they are the result of human selection, hybridizing or breeding. If a unique version of a plant species is naturally occurring and proliferates on its own, instead of being a cultivar, it would be called a “variety.”

“Evergreen” plants are those that keep their leaves year-round. Conversely, “deciduous” plants drop their leaves during a portion of the year, usually in the cold winter months, but sometimes during the dry summer period, as with some of California’s native plants. Citrus and avocados are evergreen, peaches and apples are deciduous. “Perennial” usually refers to plants that either die back to the ground each year and regrow, or at least do not develop any significant woodiness. Common perennials are geraniums and begonias.

Unlike perennials, which should live for at least a few years, “annuals” are plants that complete their entire life cycle, from seed to seed, in one year. “Biennials” take two years to complete their life cycle, usually developing a leafy stage the first year, then flowering and setting seed during the second year. Common examples of biennials are most foxglove and hollyhock.

Especially when buying plants from seed, watch for the term “hybrid.” These are plants created by crossing at least two closely related parent plants. Planting the seeds collected from a hybrid plant often results in quite a surprise to gardeners. Much like creating a mule always requires a horse and a donkey, re-creating a hybrid plant will require the same parent plants. More mules cannot be made from themselves; you will always need the horse and the donkey. Like mules, hybrid plants, such as most tomatoes, fruit trees, roses and more, cannot be replicated by collecting their seed.

One final plant term that I always find thought-provoking is the term “native.” Native is intended to refer to plants that were naturally occurring in a specific area. However, applying the term native to a plant is inherently controversial. For instance, a “native” plant in California may have never been naturally occurring in the area where your garden sits today. Dozens of “native” plants on the market today have never occurred naturally in Orange County. In many cases they are “native” to areas hundreds of miles away. They still may be excellent choices for your garden but not necessarily because of a “native” label.

I’m sure you’re confused enough by now, so we’ll leave more plant terminology for another day; terms like bulbs, tubers and corms, stolons and rhizomes, dioecious and monoecious, and palmate and pinnate will be a lesson another time.

Now you’re almost ready to go face to face with that smarty-pants, know-it-all wordsmith at the local garden club.

Ask Ron

Question: My peach tree is almost ready to bloom. Is this the time for me to spray a fungicide to prevent diseases? What should I use?

Betty

Answer: Yes, peaches, plums, apricots, apples and most other deciduous fruit trees should be sprayed annually with a copper sulfate solution, also occasionally called a Bordeaux mixture. This application should be applied at what is called the “pink bud stage,” just before the flowers open. The copper sulfate spray helps to prevent several common diseases, such as peach leaf curl, shot hole fungus, brown rot and others. These diseases cannot be controlled later in the season, when the leaves are present, so the timing of the application is critical.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the Nursery Manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar.