Common Lawn and Garden Terms

Some of the most commonly-used lawn, landscaping and garden terms include:

Annual - a plant that grows, blooms, produces seed or fruit and dies in one year or less.

Biennial - a plant that grows and establishes itself the first season, then blooms, produces seed and dies the second season.

Broadcast - a product that is distributed over a large area of space.

Compost - decomposed organic matter, used to enrich the soil and improve drainage and aeration.

Contact - a product that adheres to and is localized on the surface of the leaf or stem of the plant.

Fungicide - a product that controls a fungus.

Herbicide - a product that controls plants.

Humus - the brown or black organic part of the soil that results from the decay of leaves or other organic matter.

Insecticide - a product that controls insects.

Integrated Pest Management(IPM) - multiple tactics used in a compatible manner in order to maintain pest populations below levels that cause economic or unacceptable injury without posing a hazard to humans, domestic animals or non-target life forms.

Miticide - a product that controls mites.

Non-selective herbicide - a product that controls all and any types of plants.

Organic Matter - Any material which originated as a living organism, such as compost, manure or peat moss.

Pesticide - a product that will control a pest.

Perennial - a plant that lives for more than two years, often for many years.

Post-emergent - a product that controls visible weeds.

Pre-emergent - a product applied to the soil surface that inhibits weed growth.

Rodenticide - a product that controls rodents.

Selective herbicide - a product that controls only certain types of plants, eliminating non-desirable plants while maintaining desirable plants.

Systemic - a product that is absorbed through the leaves and/or roots of the plant and moves throughout the plant.

Weed - a plant out of place.