Words this site uses as if everyone knows them. A line each, with a link for anyone who wants more.
Roots a plant puts out from its stem, above the soil. More ↗
A plant sold with no pot and no soil, lifted and sent out during its winter dormancy.
Stringy green algae that forms mats in ponds, usually where there is plenty of sun and too many nutrients.
Sap running from a pruning cut, which some trees, walnuts and maples among them, do badly if cut at the wrong time of year.
A chilli plant kept for years and trained as a bonsai: the name is bonsai plus chilli.
Ground bone, used as a slow feed for roots and added to the hole at planting time. More ↗
A tree kept small in a pot and shaped over years to look like an old one in miniature; the word is Japanese for, more or less, “planted in a tray”. Our inspiration is Peter Chan of Herons Bonsai. Peter Chan and Herons Bonsai ↗
Survives a normal winter outdoors but not a severe one, so it needs shelter in hard frost. More ↗
A bonsai form with a straight trunk that fans out into a rounded head of fine branches, like an upturned broom. More ↗
A box or pile of hollow stems, drilled wood and gaps for insects to shelter and nest in. More ↗
The scar tissue a plant grows over a cut, and often the first sign that a cutting is about to root.
The long stems of raspberries and their relatives; also the bamboo sticks used as supports.
A bonsai form in which the tree grows down over the edge of the pot, as if hanging off a cliff. More ↗
Clipping a tree or shrub so its foliage sits in separate rounded pads on bare branches. More ↗
Fibre from coconut husks, used in compost in place of peat. More ↗
A low box with a clear lid, for plants that need a little shelter but not a greenhouse. More ↗
A named variety selected or bred by people, written in quotes after the plant's name. More ↗
Softwood cuttings are taken from soft new growth in late spring and summer; hardwood cuttings from that year's woody stems in autumn or winter. More ↗
Removing spent flowers so the plant makes more instead of setting seed. More ↗
Dead branches or bare trunk kept on a bonsai deliberately, to make it look older. See shari. More ↗
Deciduous plants drop their leaves for winter, evergreens keep them, and semi-evergreens do either depending on how cold it gets. More ↗
A plant's winter shutdown, when growth stops until spring. More ↗
Lime-hating: ericaceous plants, such as cranberries, need acidic compost, which is sold under the same name. More ↗
A bonsai planting of several trees in one shallow pot, arranged to look like a small wood. More ↗
Two plants joined so they grow as one, usually a chosen variety on a tougher set of roots. See rootstock. More ↗
Small sharp stones mixed into compost for drainage, or spread on top to keep the surface dry.
A fabric or plastic sack used in place of a pot. More ↗
Able to stay outdoors through a British winter without protection. More ↗
A stamp on pallets and timber showing they were treated against pests with heat rather than chemicals. More ↗
A panel of woven stems, traditionally hazel or willow, used as fencing. More ↗
A bonsai form in which the trunk rises with gentle bends rather than dead straight. More ↗
A family of soil-based compost recipes worked out at the John Innes institute in the 1930s: a recipe, not a brand. More ↗
The main upward shoot of a tree, which goes on to become the trunk.
Autumn leaves left in a heap for a year or two until they turn dark and crumbly. More ↗
Stretched, thin and reaching, usually from too little light. More ↗
A pond plant that grows at the edge, with its roots wet and its leaves in the air.
A layer of bark, compost or leaves spread over the soil to keep moisture in and weeds down. More ↗
The visible spread of roots at the base of a bonsai's trunk.
Japanese for “garden tree”: a tree pruned and trained to look like a mature one in a landscape. More ↗
Small copies a plant produces at its base, which can be detached and potted up as new plants. More ↗
Plants that have sat unsold for too long and are sold off cheaply, usually pot-bound and a little lopsided.
Getting a plant through winter alive, usually by moving it somewhere frost can't reach. More ↗
Compost made without peat, which is dug from bogs that took thousands of years to form.
Volcanic glass heated until it puffs up into light white granules, mixed into compost for air and drainage. More ↗
Nipping off the soft tip of a shoot so the plant branches out instead of growing tall.
A seedling or rooted cutting sold very small, in a tray of cells. More ↗
Roots that have filled the pot and begun circling it; also called root-bound.
Moving a plant into the next size of pot up.
A young tree being grown on with bonsai in mind, before any real styling has happened.
Lifting seedlings from the tray they germinated in and giving each its own space.
A tray with a clear lid, sometimes heated, that keeps seeds and cuttings warm and humid.
The root half of a grafted plant, which decides its size and toughness. More ↗
Liquid extract of seaweed: low in nitrogen, rich in trace elements, and used more as a tonic than a fertiliser. More ↗
A plant sowing its own seed around the garden without help.
Small, immature onion bulbs, planted to grow on into full-sized ones.
A strip of bare, barkless wood running along a bonsai's trunk. More ↗
Small bonsai, generally no more than about 20 cm tall.
A fungal disease of cherries, plums and their relatives that gets in through pruning cuts, which is why they are pruned in summer. More ↗
A tree or shrub grown with a clear, bare trunk and all its growth in a head at the top.
The single thick root a seedling tree sends straight down. More ↗
Killed by frost, so kept indoors or under glass from autumn to spring.
A plain, roomy pot a tree lives in whilst it is being grown and shaped.
A shallow garden basket for carrying things, or a flexible tub with handles. More ↗
A mineral heated until it expands into soft flakes, mixed into compost to hold water. More ↗
A very young tree: a single stem with no side branches yet. More ↗
A pond built for wildlife rather than fish, with shallow edges, native plants and no chemicals. More ↗
Wrapping wire around a trunk or branch so it can be bent and will hold its new position.
A bin in which worms turn kitchen scraps into compost and a liquid feed. More ↗