A GARDENER’S ESSENTIAL A–Z PART ONE
A
AERIAL ROOT
Roots produced on the part of a plant that is above ground or water. Common in epiphytes (see ‘e’). Can be used to anchor, or absorb water and nutrients from the air.
ANNUAL
A plant that completes its entire lifecycle from germination to setting its seed in one year or growing season. The plant won’t regrow the following year, but if it sheds seed, these can germinate and produce more plants. Examples include petunias, cosmos and marigolds.
ARBORETUM
From the Latin, meaning ‘a place of trees’. Usually a scientific or ornamental collection of trees and shrubs, either private, attached to a university or a national collection such as Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire.
B
BARE-ROOT
Before plastic pots, plants were field grown and lifted during the dormant season from the end of October to March and sold with the roots wrapped only in hessian or burlap. Fruit trees,
