Latin Ideas, Tips & Guides

Ferns are one of the most versatile plants to add texture and softness to a shade garden. Northern (Adiantum pedatum) and Southern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) maidenhair ferns are native to the Southeast. When planted in the right conditions, they add an airy and ethereal touch to a shady area.

Why is it important to learn how garden flowers are grouped or classified?

An old Latin name for violet (Violaceae). A genus of some 500 species of hardy perennials, mainly from northern temperate regions, including violas, pansies, and violets, of which there are many hybrids and strains.

Sketch image from a garden planting plan recently created for a GardenAdvice client

From the Latin salveo, meaning save or heal, used by Pliny with reference to the medicinal qualities of some species (Labiatae). A large genus of over 700 species of hardy, half-hardy and tender annual, biennial, perennial plants and shrubs, some with aromatic leaves, widely distributed in the temperate and warmer zones. It includes the common sage, S. officinalis, a valuable culinary plant, as well as many colourful summer and autumn flowering border plants.

Q: I have a winter flowering jasmine, growing profusely on a 3m-high north-facing wall. For most of its six years, it has produced an abundance of flowers, from early November until March. During the recent summer, I took a lot of its stems, which had bunched at about 2m, and gently stretched them out along a series of horizontal wires. This November I can only see a handful of flowers (less than 10). Did my gentle summer manipulation cause this drop in flowers and if so, how? CD, Co Dublin

Possibly from the Latin barba, a beard, many species have a hairy or downy look (Scrophulariaceae). Mullein. A genus of 300 species of hardy herbaceous plants, mostly biennials or short-lived perennials, from temperate parts of Europe and Asia.

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I admire tenacity. It is a trait that I strive for myself and have tried to instill in my child. I am moved when I hear stories about people who overcome adversity or achieve great things by trying repeatedly until they reach their goals. And yet, when a great example of tenacity occurs right in my own backyard, I find myself strangely unmoved.

To the novice it is a mystery why a simple little blossom should be burdened with an unpronounceable Latin name-and not only with one, but two and often even more. She forgets that her own name is not only Brown, that to distinguish her from all the other Browns she has been called Kathy and because of the many Kathy Browns she bears the additional name of Ann. It is just so with plants; each has a family or genus name, a given or specific name and often one or more descriptive names. Thus we have Myosotis palustris semperflorens, a plant belonging to the Myosotis or Dill family. This particular one is a marsh-lover and a more or less continual bloomer, as the last two parts of its name indicate. We prefer to call this flower Forget-me-not, its pet or familiar name, just as Kathy Ann Brown’s friends may wish to call him Kathleen or Kate.It is very interesting to investigate why the botanical names were chosen. We have all known a man named Small who was anything but small, or a girl named Grace who was not at all graceful. In the plant world, such entirely inappropriate names occur very seldom; each name is chosen to describe a particular plant and plants do not change sufficiently to belie the terms descriptive of their family. The original Small was, no doubt, small of stature, but through the ages his children have outgrown the name.

In the long history of plant science, no name is more famous than that of Linnaeus and no book is more highly regarded than his “Species Plantarum,” published in 1753.

Centipedes aren’t picky about where they live. If you’ve got a garden, you might spot them indoors or outdoors. But what does it mean when you see one and what it symbolizes? Read below.

A double row of clipped topiary pieces in the yew garden at Beckley Park

When you pull a pie crust out of the freezer aisle at the grocery store or a sleeve of cookies off the shelf, it’s likely that one of the ingredients they contain is dietary fat, such as soybean or palm oil. These oils are agricultural products, but do they have to be?

When we talk about Succulents That Don’t Need Sunlight, it doesn’t mean that these plants can survive in complete darkness. It implies that these do well in less light than other succulents that need constant bright sun to thrive. This attribute makes them a star addition indoors to places with indirect light all day.

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Have you ever been walking through the woods and noticed small, brown stems sticking through the leaf litter (somewhat reminiscent of the handles of tiny witch’s brooms)? These are beechdrops (Epif agus virginiana), and if you look around, you will notice mature beech trees (Fargus grandifolia) with their smooth grayish bark.

A GardenAdvice gardening course takes place in your own garden throughout the UK on a date to suit you and makes the perfect Christmas gift. We send one of our gardening experts to you.

Captivating and mysterious, the Luna Moth is more than just a pretty face in the insect kingdom. Symbolizing transformation, spiritual growth, and new beginnings, this ethereal creature has long captivated human imagination. With its delicate green wings and striking appearance, it’s hard to deny the almost mystical allure that comes with a Luna Moth sighting. But what really is the Meaning of Luna Moth? Keep scrolling as we delve deep into the captivating world of these flying wonders!

While supporting businesses from the Black, AAPI, Latinx, and other marginalized groups should be a year-round endeavor, we're happy to highlight some of our favorite Latine-owned brands to kickstart Hispanic Heritage Month. The month-long celebration is observed from September 15th to October 15th, celebrating the influences and contributions of those across the Hispanic and Latine diaspora (Latine and Latinx can be used interchangeably. However, Latinx is a term used predominately in the U.S. by English speakers while Latine is more in line with other gender-neutral Spanish words like presidente).

Latin scientific names can be challenging to pronounce but are tremendously important. We can communicate without ambiguity because each plant has only one scientific name. In contrast, a plant may have more than one common name, and common names may vary by region. Although easier to pronounce, using common names can result in a great deal of confusion and even frustration.

We’ve got a while yet before we get to the eagerly awaited and short-lived British asparagus season. This year it falls after the equally eagerly awaited and short-lived, but far less healthy, Easter Egg season. You can expect British asparagus to be in season from the end of April through until June. I planted some wild asparagus from crowns three years ago, and cultivated asparagus plants two ago, and so this year I’m hoping we can harvest our first home-grown spears!

Will the EU ban the garden use of glyphosphate the best chemical cure for Couch grass?

I received a book for Easter entitled ‘Ornamental Shrubs for Temperate Gardens May Flowering’ by Edward Hyams. Since its publication in 1965 the botanic names of the odd variety may have changed (this is a continued source of annoyance to me as soon as I learn one Latin name it is changed into another). However the awe that spring blossom can produce may let me forget this minor issue.

‘What else did the Romans do for us’ asks Monty Python. ‘All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? ‘ Well if you include Latin as a language they gave us modern gardening nomenclature.

How do you pronounce the words of a language that doesn’t belong to any one nation or people, exactly? Any way you like. What’s important is that you learn the words and let them help you to find the plant you really want. As a bonus, certain botanical Latin words used to name various plants often also reveal that plant’s characteristics. This is particularly true among the species names, or “specific epithets,” the second word in each two-part (or binomial) botanical name, which modifies the first word, the genus name. What follows is a sampling, in each case expressed in the -us ending (-a and –um are also used when the gender of the subject being modified is appropriate):colorYellow may be expressed with flavus (a pale version), luteus or lutea, as in the charming perennial Corydalis lutea, top photo), and citrinus (lemon-colored).Red is rubrum; rosy-pink is roseus.Purple is simple: just say purpureus. If it’s very dark, it might be atropurpureus.White is albus; black is nigrum.Sil

LIKE THE GARDEN ITSELF, THE FORUM KEEPS GROWING. Thanks to many of you for joining in! Among my favorite threads of conversation this week: a discussion of favorite tomato varieties (won’t you share yours?), started by member Megansgreen, and another (posted by  Sailorgirl) on the p’s and q’s of botanical Latin (a subject I always adore).

I absorbed at least a rudimentary command of the official language of plants, and my only regret is that I didn’t learn even more. Now, thanks to the fun I’ve been having dipping over and again into the new book called “The Gardener’s Botanical: An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names,” I’m further sharpening my skills, because botanical Latin opens up a world for gardeners willing to try learning some of it.What can a gardener learn from studying botanical Latin? Ross Bayton, a former editor of the BBC’s “Gardeners World Magazine” created the “The Gardener’s Botanical,” and when we spoke recently, he answered that question and more. (Photo of Ross, below, from the Heronswood garden