Gardening Terms B

Common and not so common garden terms you might hear or read about while learning to garden.

This list is by no means a complete collection of horticultural techniques and terms.

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Gardening terms B

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B Gardening Terms

backfill: The replacement of soil taken from a planting hole.

ball: The earth that surrounds the roots of a plant or tree during transplanting.

balled and burlap: Plants dug from the ground so that the soil surrounding the roots is undisturbed. It is then wrapped in burlap to keep the soil in place. Also seen as the abbreviation BB.

bare rooted: Plants sold with no soil around the roots. One of the gardening terms you'll want to know when buying plants from a catalog.

bark: The exterior tissue of a woody trunk or stem. it consists of dead material.

basal foliage: The leaves that grow from the base or crown of a plant.

bedding plants : Plants that are massed in flower beds to form a temporary display. One of the many gardening terms used to describe annual plants!

beneficial insects : An insect that eats or destroys harmful garden insects.

biennial: A plant that produces leaves only during its first year. It produces flowers, fruit, and seeds the second year and then dies.

biotic: Refers to living things.

bisexual: A perfect flower, having both female and male reproductive organs.

bog garden: A garden composed of permanently moist (not wet) soil and moisture loving plants.

bolting: Sudden production of flowers and seeds prematurely particularly in lettuce.

bone meal: Crushed or finely ground bones used as a fertilizer.

bonsai: The art of producing minature trees by pruning roots, pinching off growth buds and training branches and stems.

border: A continuous planting around the boundries of a lawn, house or garden bed.

botanical garden: A garden devoted to cultivating plants for scientific and educational purposes.

bract: A modified leaf. Pointsettias are composed of bright red bracts not flowers!

broadleaf evergreens: Plants that remain green throughout the year that have wide leaves.

bud: A shoot containing embryonic leaves or flowers.

bud break: When the shoot (bud) opens and the leaf or flower emerges.

bud scale: A small, specialized leaf, usually waxy, that protects an unopened bud.

bulb: A short reduced stem that consists of overlapping scales and sends out roots from the bottom. It also is a food storage facility for the plant.

bulbil: A small bulb produced above ground in the axil or flower head of the plant.

bulblet: A small bulb produced at the base of a mature bulb.