Hi everyone,

Im a newbie named Lemmonie or Melanie depending on how well i know you!

Im am 27 and last august i brought a house with a fab landscaped garden which looked beautiful. Well since then of course nasty old winter came along and i was pushed headfast into gardening.
Armed with a new pair of secators(SP?) i set about cutting everything down. I also followed my mothers advise about weeding which basically went "if you dont like it, pull it out"

So far this has worked for me although i did later feel an awful lot of regret about pulling out a beautiful huge Acer which was in the wrong place in my front garden.

Dispite this however i am slowly trying to gain a better understanding of my garden and how i can make the most of it.

I really dont know anything about gardening and only know the names of a few plants in my garden but i DO know that i am loving watching my garden come back to life after the winter and really enjoy watching the plants grow.

If anyone could come up with a very simple quide to what the following terms mean i would be truely grateful.

please dont laugh at my ignorence though!


Perennials
hardy perennials
annual
etc etc

Thanks!

On Fri, 14 May 2004 10:55:11 GMT, Lemmonie
wrote:

snip

I really dont know anything about gardening and only know the names of
a few plants in my garden but i DO know that i am loving watching my
garden come back to life after the winter and really enjoy watching the
plants grow.

That's just about all you ever really need to become a 'gardener'.

I was looking out over my (ahem) 'lawn' the other day. In places it's
a foot high already... I can barely even see the lawnmower...but the
grass is peppered with yellow, white, blue and pink flowers - all
weeds, naturally ( excuse pun ) - and it looked lovely.
Now, I could spend weeks out there pushing the lawnmower around - and
I'd end up with an admittedly neat-looking lawn, but with a fraction
of the interest and beauty.

If anyone could come up with a very simple quide to what the following
terms mean i would be truely grateful.

please dont laugh at my ignorence though!

Only if you promise not to laugh at my gardening trousers...


Perennials
They come up year after year. Plant once, enjoy for years.

hardy perennials
Hardy simply means it can withstand being left outside through the
British winter. Half hardy is a term you'll often see, which means it
won't tolerate the cold...though you can sometimes be lucky.

annual
Flowers once, then kicks the bucket.
Around this time of year you can sow annual flowers straight into the
soil. These will grow and bloom this summer, then die - and that will
be the end of them..unless they set seed and new plants grow next
year.
You can now also plant out half hardy annuals, which will snuff it
when the winter comes, and will not reappear again.

Biennial - flowers in the second year after sowing - so sow now for a
display next year.

Tender - treat as half hardy, with perhaps even more caution with
regard to the temperature.

Climber - grows upwards, and over tall things.

Sprawling - grows outwards, and over short things.

Vigorous - gets everywhere.

Invasive - gets everywhere, and anywhere

F1 hybrid - a special breed of plant that usually won't breed true
from its own seeds ( more relevant to veg growers ).

Lush - will get eaten by slugs

Variegated - has a 'defect' which results in contrasting colours on
the leaves.

There are loads more terms, but that just about covers the basics.


Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Lemmonie" wrote in message
s.com...
Hi everyone,

Im a newbie named Lemmonie or Melanie depending on how well i know
you!

Im am 27 and last august i brought a house with a fab landscaped garden
which looked beautiful. Well since then of course nasty old winter
came along and i was pushed headfast into gardening.
Armed with a new pair of secators(SP?) i set about cutting everything
down. I also followed my mothers advise about weeding which basically
went "if you dont like it, pull it out"

So far this has worked for me although i did later feel an awful lot of
regret about pulling out a beautiful huge Acer which was in the wrong
place in my front garden.

Dispite this however i am slowly trying to gain a better understanding
of my garden and how i can make the most of it.

I really dont know anything about gardening and only know the names of
a few plants in my garden but i DO know that i am loving watching my
garden come back to life after the winter and really enjoy watching the

plants grow.

If anyone could come up with a very simple quide to what the following
terms mean i would be truely grateful.

please dont laugh at my ignorence though!


Perennials
hardy perennials
annual
etc etc

Thanks!
Lemmonie

Welcome to URG Lemmonie or Melanie......

The following sites might be of use but ask away here and we'll do our best :~)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/index.shtml
http://glossary.gardenweb.com/glossary/

Jenny

"Lemmonie" wrote in message
s.com...
Hi everyone,

Im a newbie named Lemmonie or Melanie depending on how well i know
you!

Im am 27 and last august i brought a house with a fab landscaped garden
which looked beautiful. Well since then of course nasty old winter
came along and i was pushed headfast into gardening.
Armed with a new pair of secators(SP?) i set about cutting everything
down. I also followed my mothers advise about weeding which basically
went "if you dont like it, pull it out"

Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you
are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
Diane

In article m,
Lemmonie writes
Hi everyone,
Hi Lemmonie! Welcome to 'urg'.

Armed with a new pair of secators(SP?) i set about cutting everything
down. I also followed my mothers advise about weeding which basically
went "if you dont like it, pull it out"
Good advice, and I'm sure that your mother would agree with "if you do
like it, don't pull it out." Whatever it is.


So far this has worked for me although i did later feel an awful lot of
regret about pulling out a beautiful huge Acer which was in the wrong
place in my front garden.

What you should have done was to leave it there until late autumn when
it would be dormant, then move it to a more suitable place. But full
marks for being decisive about what you want or don't want in your
garden. You'll need a lot of that as your garden develops.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.