Damping down
The wetting of greenhouse walls and floors to reduce the temperature and increase humidity.

Dead-heading
The removal of faded flowers.

Deciduous
A plant which loses all of its leaves at the end of the season.

Decumbent
A flat stem with an ascending tip.

Dentate
Toothed margin.

Dibber
A blunt-ended stick used for making holes in the soil when transplanting.

Dicotylodon
A plant producing two seed leaves at germination.

Die-back
The death of branches or roots starting at the tips and moving towards the stems.

Digitale leaf
A leaf made up of leaflets radiating like fingers.

Dioecious
A plant bearing either male or female flowers.

Disbudding
The removal of surplus buds or shoots.

Disc (Disk)
The flat central part of compound flowers.

Dormant period
The time when plants naturally stop growing due to lack of daylight and temperature.

Double
A flower with more than the regular amount of petals

Drawn
The term applied to tall, thin, pale seedlings as a result of being grown in shaded conditions or too thickly.

Drill
A straight, shallow furrow in which seeds are sown.

E

Earth up
To make a mound of soil around the base of plants.

Entire leaf
An unserrated and undivided leaf.

Epiphyte
A plant which uses another for support but does not feed from it.

Espalier
Tree trained to grow along parallel horizontal wires.

Evergreen
A plant which retains its leaves throughout the year.

Everlasting
Flowers which retain some or their entire colour when dried.

Eye (Bud)
A dormant growth bud.

Eye (Flower)
The centre of a single or semi-double bloom having a distinctly different colour to the petals.

F

Fallowing
Allowing a piece of land to go without crops for a period of time.

Family
A group of related genera.

Fan
Trees and shrubs whose branches are trained fan-shape against a wall or fence.

Fastigiate
A tree form with close, erect branches.

Feathered
A petal with feather like markings.

Fertilization
The production of seed via the application of pollen to the stigma of a plant.

Fertilizer
An organic or inorganic material used to provide nutrition for plants.

Fibrous-rooted
A root system containing many thin roots.

Filament
The lower part of the stamen, supporting the anther.

Fimbriate
Frilly edged.

Floret
The individual flowers of a compound flower or dense flowerhead.

Flower
The reproductive organ of a plant.

Flushes
Irregular, successive crops of fruit or flowers.

Foliar feed
A fertilizer which is sprayed on and absorbed by a plants leaves.

Forcing
The use of a stimulus to encourage flowering before its natural time.

Friable
A term applied to crumbly soil.

Frost pocket
An area where cold air is trapped.

Fruit
The seed of a plant and its surrounding structure.

Fungicide
A chemical compound used to combat diseases caused by fungi.

Fungus
An infectious primitive plant life which causes diseases.

G

Gall
An abnormal growth of plant tissue.

Genus (Genera)
A group of related plants containing one or more species.

Germination
The development of a seed embryo into a seedling.

Glabrous
Hairless, smooth.

Grafting
The joining of one plants shoot or bud onto the stem of another.

Ground colour
The main colour of a petal.

Ground cover
The term applied to a plant which provides low growing cover, often as a form of weed-proofing, requiring little maintenance.