The Complete Garden

A landscape architect's working manual of 1921: not how to grow a plant but where to put it — the plant lists, the groupings, the seasons of bloom, and the reasons behind a designed garden.

HomeMagazine Reference › Magazine Reference: Root

Magazine Reference: Root

Root Prune:

To prune or cut the roots of a plant in order to check excessive growth of the woody tops; often done to secure a compact root system consisting of a mass of fine roots confined to a limited area in order to permit of the plant being transplanted with a greater degree of certainty that the plant will continue to live (See Plate VI, Page 34). Sometimes done merely to permit of the plant being more easily fed and decrease the probability of the plant food being lost in the greater area of soil, or taken up by plants for which it is not intended. Root Stock:

The subterranean runner or partially subterranean runner which is a part of the root system (not a part of the stem) which roots at intervals and sends up stems similar to a stolon. It is a part of the true root system, while a stolon is part of the stem.

Rotted Manure:

Organic manure in which oxidation is so nearly completed that no appreciable amount of heat is given off and much of the material is available as plant food.

Runner:

Rust:

A slender stolon. (See Root Stock).

A diseased condition caused by a rust fungus.

Sanctuary:

Scald:

Scion:

A place of refuge in which birds or animals may continue their normal habits without fear of being molested.

A diseased condition of the bark of a woody plant caused either by the action of frost in bursting the cells or by excessive drying due to sun or wind action.

Any bud or shoot or other portion of the stem of a plant capable of propagation cut off and prepared for grafting.

GLOSSARY Scraping tree trunks:

The process of scraping off the loose bark from the trunk of a tree. The chief reason is to remove the hiding places of injurious insects. Seepage:

The process of percolation, as ground water through the soil. Shothole:

Shrub:

A small local centre of attack caused by parasitic fungi. A woody perennial as distinguished from a tree mainly by its low stature and having several primary stalks arising at or near the ground.

Slaked Lime:

Smut:

Sod:

Is fresh burnt lime reduced to a fine condition by the addition of water.

A diseased condition caused by a smut fungus.

That stratum of earth which is filled with the roots of grass, herbs, etc. Sour Soil:

An acid soil; a term generally applied to a soil which is not only acid but deficient in soil aeration and in drainage.

Specimen Plant:

Spore:

Sport:

A plant specially grown by itself so as to display it to best advantage or to allow the plant to assume normal and unrestricted growth. A minute portion of a fungus capable of germinating and growing into a new fungus.

An unusual variation from the normal type as commonly demonstrated in habits of growth and qualities of colour or size of flowers. Sprigging:

Planting of grass by inserting roots or whole plants in the ground as Bermuda grass is generally planted.

Stagger:

To plant alternately at equal distances in a row on either side of a middle line (as in the planting of hedges) or to arrange over any area at equal distances without any reference to any definite line. Stag-head:

Stem:

Stolon:

Said of a tree the top of which is dead or nearly so, due to injury by accident or disease.

One of the three divisions of all plants, which consist of roots, stem, and leaves. The stem is the ascending axis of the plant. A branch from the stem, as distinguished from the root system. A stolon roots, or is disposed to root, at intervals, thus forming a new plant. Stratify:

To store seeds between layers of earth, leaves, or other material, or to bury them so as to keep them fresh and moist, but not so warm as to germinate.

Straw Manure:

Manure which contains a portion of the straw which was used for bedding. Chiefly applied to the manure from stables in which straw was used as bedding, as distinguished from stables in which sand, sawdust, shavings, etc., are used as bedding.

Subsoil:

That soil lying directly beneath the topsoil; chemically similar but physically different. Without special treatment it will not sustain vegetation, but on aeration will sustain some hardy plants most of which are vigorous weeds.

Suckers:

Adventitious shoots appearing on the roots or stems of plants. When they come on grafted plants, arising below the graft, they are of the same variety as the root, not the variety of the top. Suffocating Root Systems:

A cause of abnormal loss among newly transplanted stock, especially the shallow-rooted type of trees, such as beech, maple, elm, and birch. The smaller feeding roots are deprived of properly aerated soil because of excessive depth of fill over the roots or because of compact clay soil GLOSSARY being filled around the base of the trees during the transplanting operation.

Sun-scald:

← Magazine Reference: PerennialMagazine Reference: Growth →