COURTESY OF MONROVIA
We put up with complicated botanical names like Loropetalum chinensis var. rubrum ‘Burgundy’ because the plant itself is so gorgeous. Also known variously as the razzle-dazzle plant or the fringe flower, this dark-leafed beauty used to be considered tender in our climate, but it has come through recent winters unscathed and is growing large in sheltered Northwest gardens.

SOMETIMES THE gardening world can feel needlessly complex and even unfriendly to those not proficient in Latin names or trained in botany. Which is most of us.

And it's true you can ripen tomatoes, grow armloads of roses and enjoy your garden thoroughly without calling a single plant by its scientific name. I remember puzzling over why a daylily was botanically a Hemerocallis and not a lily at all. It looks lily-like. It made sense only when it fully dawned on me that daylilies are herbaceous perennials and true lilies grow from a bulb. The point is that knowing a little about where plants originate, their botany and their relatives may help us grow them better, appreciate them more and track them down when we want to buy them. If nothing else, knowledge helps us ask the right questions.

JULIE NOTARIANNI /THE SEATTLE TIMES
			Now In Bloom One of the early flowering magnolias, Magnolia x kewensis 'Wada's Memory,' was selected and named here at the Washington Park Arboretum by curator Brian Mulligan. Its 7-inch-wide finely cut flowers begin opening in March, covering the bare branches in fragrant, silky white. The spectacular show of bloom is followed by bronze leaves that fade to green during the summer. The tree grows quickly to about 15 feet tall in 10 years, with a neat pyramidal shape.

So because the riddles of the plant world are many; here's a little primer to get you going:

Zones: If a tree fern or red banana dies during a cold snap you want it to be because you've been playing around with microclimates, not because you were ignorant about whether it can reasonably live where you do. This is what climate-zone maps can help with; they're based on the minimum temperature a plant needs to survive. But lest it be too straightforward, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has one scheme of zones, while Sunset magazine has established a more precise set for Western gardens. The Seattle area is a zone 5 in the Sunset system, and a zone 8 USDA. Add to this variations in microclimates, changing weather patterns and the fact plants increase in hardiness after they're in the ground awhile, and you see the confusion. I'm not sure if it's comforting to remember that in our climate far more plants drown in soggy soil than die of the cold.

Dirt vs. Soil: Any dirt improved by adding compost, manure or mulch is soil, which is all you want (or should admit to having) in your garden.

Yard vs. Garden: If you work the soil and grow flowers, shrubs or vegetables, you have a garden. A prison has a yard.

Cultivars vs. Species vs. Varieties: Trinomial (three-word) scientific plant names are intimidating, but they're also precise and convey information. Yes, it's a struggle for most of us to learn them, but if you look up a plant's botanical name often enough it becomes familiar, and soon you'll be picking up clues as to color ("luteus" is yellow, and "caesius" means blue-gray) shape and size ("altus" is tall, "humilis" is low).

Genus is the first word of the trinomial name and a subdivision of a larger plant family; some have only a single kind of plant, such as Ginkgo, while others, like Rosa, contain hundreds.

Species comes next in the trinomial. Every plant name needs at a minimum genus and species. Species reproduce from seed with only a little variation.

Cultivar is the third word, always enclosed in single quote marks; it means a genetically distinct plant, either a hybrid bred by humans or one selected in the wild.

Variety is part of the third word in a name, and in listings is preceded by "var." Such a designation means the plant is a variant of a basic species as it occurs in nature.

An example of this system is Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Burgundy' — known commonly as the fringe flower or the razzle-dazzle plant. The botanical name tells you this plant is a purple-leafed variety of a Chinese species, and 'Burgundy' is one of its man-made cultivars.

Word Play: A pangram is a sentence that contains all the words in the alphabet. And there's one about gardening — no surprise to gardeners certain that their hobby is all-encompassing: "Back in my quaint garden jaunty zinnias vie with flaunting phlox." It's ideal for keyboarding practice.

A Gardener's Best Friend: No longer does the most useful gardening tool come with a handle and sharp edge. The Internet provides the quickest, simplest plant-finding and name confirmation around. Just type any plant, or even a close approximation of its name (including common ones) into Google, and you'll come up with the correct spelling, color photos, and a wealth of information, including nurseries that stock the plants you have to have.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle free-lance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.