Gardening Terms D

I've gathered a list of some of the common terms you will hear or read about when dealing with nurseries and garden plants.

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

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Gardening terms D

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D Garden Terms

day-neutral plant: A plant that is induced to flower by factors other than night length.

dead-heading: Removal of spent flower heads to keep a plant from producing seeds and to encourage more flowering.

deciduous: A plant that drops its leaves at the end of the growing season. A good way to remember this one is the letter D starts both drop and deciduous.

determinate: One of the gardening terms used to describe a flower where the top flower opens before the others.

diatomaceous earth: Oceanic sediments formed by accumulation of the silica shells of diatoms (algae).

dibble, dib:A tool shaped like a carrot made from metal, wood or plastic that is used to poke a hole in the soil for planting.

die back: When the tips of branches die, can be caused by chemical or sun damage, lack of water, disease, insects or winter winds and snow.

division: A method of getting more plants from a cluster by splitting the plant into halves or quarters.

dioecious: Of two houses, a species of plant that has male flowers on one plant and female flowers on another. Holly is a good example.

dormant: A condition where the plant is not actively growing but will start growing again after a rest period.

dormant spray: A chemical used to help control insects and diseases. Typically applied in early spring before bud break and occassionally as soon as the leaves appear.

drift: A long shaped planting.

dwarf plants: One of the most confusing gardening terms around. It means plants that have been altered to be smaller than their native species. This doesn't mean a plant is minature. A native tree might grow to 100' tall where the dwarf cultivar only gets 50' tall.