Gardening Terms DGardening Terms starting with the letter 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.
D Garden Termsdamping off: When seedlings or cuttings decay at the base of the growth caused by fungus.
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.
On every stem, on every leaf ... and at the root of everything that grew, was a professional specialist in the shape of grub, caterpillar, aphid, or other expert, whose business it was to devour that particular part. - Oliver Wendell Holmes
If you are not killing plants, you are not really stretching yourself as a gardener -J.C. Raulston.
A green thumb is nothing more than hard work and the desire to make things grow.
Albert E. Tuttle