Each plant sold in a garden center, flower, tree or shrub should come with a plastic tag indicating important and useful information, such as: common name, variety, scientific name (Latin name), and a picture of the plant.
Scientific name (Latin): Is the universal botanical name for the plant. It is written out as follows: gender-species-principal characteristic or name of the person who discovered it.
Common name or vernacular: is the folkloric expression of the name, taking the local colors of a region and is most of the time, imaginative or an easy way to remember the plant name. A plant will have a vernacular name if it is part of the nation’s daily folklore. A common plant in China will probably have a Chinese vernacular name but, will not have any elsewhere.
Variety: the variety name will help distinguish plants of a same species. The botanical structure of each variety differs, but it is in fact a minor subdivision of a species. Varieties can reproduce with their seeds keeping the same characteristics.
Cultivar: A cultivated variety is a plant that was obtained by horticultural breeding. Reproduction by sowing the cultivar seeds giving non-compliant descendants to the mother plant.
Hybrid: A hybrid is born of a crossing between two plants of the same gender or the same species. It can be done naturally or by lab tests by a man-made pollination.
Symbols and Useful Information
Sun exposure: is the required daily sun exposure for the selected plant to grow.
Full sun - at least 6 hours of sun daily.
Semi-shade - between 2 to 6 hours of sun daily.
Shade - less than 2 hours of sun per day.
Water Requirements: frequent watering or good resistance to drought.
Spacing: the required distance between 2 plants for their optimal growth. You can plant 15% less than the recommended spacing on the tag; it will help limit weed growth between each plant.
Height: represent the expected height of the plant at maturity. Useful information when you are planning the overall organization of your flower beds. The height is usually indicated in centimetres and inches.
Growing method: will explain how to transplant.
Flowering period: will facilitate the plant arrangement and plan to have blooms all summer long.
Harvest: the required time for the seedling to reach maturity, whether sown outdoors or previously started indoors.
Use: in some cases, the possible uses of a plant are mentioned: culinary, medicinal, cut flowers attract birds or butterflies, etc.
Hardiness zone: climate zone in which a plant is considered to be «rustic» meaning, that it will sleep during the winter and will re-grow year after year. They are called perennials. Other plants are called annuals and must be sown every year. It is possible to find out in what climate zone your garden is on our web site. The more the number is low, the more the plant will resist to cold. Montreal is a zone 5 region. Perennials of zones 1 to 5 are considered rustic, will survive in winter and grow again from year to year.
Tags exemples
Annuals
Perennials
Vegetables
Generic label for vegetables
Herbs
Generic label for Herbs
