Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon

Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon
by Bill Neal
Introduction by Barbara Damrosch

144 pages
Algonquin Books, 2003
List price: $10.95



I have a thing for botanical names of plants. I like to say them; I like how they roll off the tongue, even when I have to use a combination of phonics and my recollection of high school Spanish to pronounce them. Sometimes I get it wrong, but thanks to Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon, I not only get a pronunciation guide, I get a clue about the nature of the plant I'm trying to talk about.

Plants are identified by genus and species, with the latter being a descriptive characteristic of the former. One of my favorite things in our garden is the Japanese Maple tree that my grandmother gave us. It's botanical name is Acer palmatum. Acer is the Latin word for "sharp," which refers to the sharp points on Maple tree leaves. The species of my Japanese Maple tree is palmatum, which means "shaped like a hand."

Sometimes the species tells you where to place the plant in your garden. You might want to plant Bugle Weed - Ajuga reptans - where you want a groundcover, because reptans means creeping.

Knowing botanical names can also be of great help when trying to assure that you're buying what you want to buy. Common names can be confusing, because the same common name is often used for two entirely different plants. Bleeding Heart? Could be Dicentra spectabilis or Clerodendrum thompsonii - very different plants.

The terms defined in this lexicon are mostly those of species. They are listed alphabetically, and while this isn't a book to be read from cover to cover, it is a handy reference guide designed to take some of the mystery out of those strange-sounding names you see on the labels accompanying the plants you bring home from the garden center.

The handy-sized book (6 by 7 inches) also has entertaining quotes and gardening tips in the margins. Many might think reading this book is a bit like reading the dictionary. Perhaps, but its small size and interesting facts make it fun to learn some very useful information that will serve you well throughout your life as a gardener.

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Bill Neal (1951-1991) was widely admired as a chef and the author of four cookbooks, among them the classic Bill Neal's Southern Cooking and two other collections of Southern recipes. In Carrboro, North Carolina, his hometown, he was also well known as an avid gardener whose own eclectic garden had something in bloom every day of the year. Gardener's Latin was a work in progress at the time of his death, and Algonquin Books put the finishing touches on it before publishing the first edition in 1992.

Barbara Damrosch is one of the nation's most respected garden experts and writers. She is also the author of The Garden Primer: Second Edition and Theme Gardens, and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post called "A Cook’s Garden." She appeared as a regular correspondent on the PBS series The Victory Garden, and co-hosted the series Gardening Naturally for The Learning Channel. She is the co-owner, with her husband, Eliot Coleman, of Four Season Farm, an experimental market garden in Harborside, Maine, that is a nationally recognized model of small-scale sustainable agriculture.

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Book purchased by reviewer.