Glossary of gardening terms - S:

Salinity
Excess salts in the soil. This is a widespread problem in arid and semi-arid regions.

Sandy soil
Soils that are predominately made up of sand particles. They are usually dry and nutrient poor.

Seed
A seed is the ripened ovule of gymnosperm or angiosperm plants. The importance of the seed relative to more primitive forms of reproduction and dispersal is attested to by the success of these two groups of plants in dominating the landscape.

Self branching
A plant that produces many side growths, that do not need to be pinched back to pronuU e hushing.

Shrubs
A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience. Small, low shrubs such as lavender, periwinkle and thyme are often termed subshrubs.

Shed
A shed is generally a modest structure, usually constructed of wood in a back garden or on an allotment, used for storage and as a workshop and very often as a retreat in which to relax and pursue hobbies, especially gardening and light engineering.

Single flower
A flower that has the minimum number of petals.

Spa
A pool that contains water of elevated temperature and incorporates a water jet system, an aeration system, or a combination of the two systems

Sphagnum
A moss with long fibres, which is sold dry to line fern baskets.

Spike
A flowering stem on which flowers are directly attached and ,vhiali tlc ~w et m turn. usual 1Y beginning at the bottom of the plant.

Spur
A short. specialised twig on which blossoms and fruit grow

Standard
A plant that is trained into a small treelike form on a single u}ariy

Stolon
A branch that grows horizontally above the medium and produces roots and shoots at the nodes.

Stress
A condition in which a plant is growing that is bad for its health;

Sub shrub
A plant under a metre high with a woody stem, which is sometimes grown as a perennial and sometimes as a shrub.

Sucker
Sucker growth originates from the root stock.

Sundial
A sundial measures time by the position of the sun.The most commonly seen designs, such as the 'ordinary' or standard garden sundial, cast a shadow on a flat surface marked with the hours of the day.As the position of the sun changes, the time indicated by the shadow changes.However, sundials can be designed for any surface where a fixed object casts a predictable shadow.

Systemic
A chemical that is absorbed into a plant's system either to kill organisms that feed plant or to kill the