Ideas Genie, plant names and new gardeners

[ideasguy]

Ideas Genie (and Ideas Genie Pro) is for those who are already familiar with OR (having realised their value) want to learn botanical names. Botanical names are commonly used in gardening magazines, and thats probably the first encounter most amateur gardeners will have by way of an introduction to them. Good gardening reference books are a must and again, botanical names are the norm.

Fortunately the vast proportion of the popular and performance garden plants have a fairly simple name with two, or perhaps three elements to the name. The first part of the name is Genus (plural genera) - it is always required. The second part is the species. The third part is the Cultivar name. Cultivar names are obvious - they are normally written enclosed in single quotes.
Heres an example of a plant with three "parts" in its name:
Rosa gallica 'Versicolor'
The common name for this popular plant is Rosa Mundi.

Genus
Rosa is probably the most well known Genus (Rose is the common name)
Lilium is another well known Genus (Lily is the common name)

Species
Lilium candidum (check it out - the Madonna Lily - its a great plant!) is an example of a botanical name with two words - genus and species (known as a binomial)
In Ideas Genie, enter Lilium in the Genus field and candidum in the species field.
Quoting from this website http://www.plantexplorers.com/explorers/biographies/linnaeus/classification.htm:

...the real core of the plant's name is its 'binomial' name. 'Binomial' literally means 'two names' and refers to the two core names, which are Genus and species

Cultivar
Next we are on to the items of real interest to gardeners - cultivars.
Did you know that many new plants are discovered by amateur gardeners?  In simple terms, two species within a Genus can cross pollinate, and the offspring can have qualities which are a mixture of their parents, just as in our world.
If they happen to have the best properties of both parents, that plant would be of interest commercially.
Our own member, Paul ( NewPlantsGuy) is the new plants development manager for R.A.Meridith, and the plants which pass their rigorous trialling program are distributed commercially by Blooms of Bressingham.
Needless to say, if you discover a new plant, get in touch with Paul!
For contact details and to read about the origins of some of the plants Paul has recently trialled visit here:
http://www.ideasforgardens.net/meredith/Blooms_Plants/

Hybridisers specialise in making crosses between plants to create Cultivars commercially. Breeding stock is carefully selected, fast tracking what in nature is the random occurrence of a special cultivar.

Very often, especially in the case of very popular genera like Rosa, there are only two parts to a plant name, genus and cultivar.
Heres an example (a popular plant which was trialled by Paul):
Polemonium 'Bressingham Purple'   
Did I mislead? Perhaps, since the cultivar name can have 1 or more parts to its name. 'Bressingham Purple' has two.

Do you have a plant name that you are not sure how to enter to Ideas Genie?
It would be very interesting to hear the feedback from our members, new and old.

Is this discussion useful? Shall we continue into more complex plant names?
(Next item on the agenda would be Trade Names for plants)

[bossgard]

George,

I?ve always been confused as to where and how I should enter new plant information. Most of my plant purchases are done in the form of seed packets from the local garden store. I find the labeling is not very consistent between the various suppliers of seed.

One of the flowers that I propagate is a Lobelia with the name of Crystal Palace. I purchase this seed from Hume Seed Company. On the front of the Hume packet is the simple information of: ?Lobelia Crystal Palace?. In a separate seed company?s catalog they give this information ?Lobelia erinus Crystal Palace?. In my reference book, is listed ?Lobelia, Campanulacease (Lobeliaceae) L. erinus?.

What goes where? (I don?t comprehend this stuff!) Now, I?m in a quandary, what and how and where do I enter this plant?s name?

Since the Genie Master Data Base has and is being discussed and used lately, I turned to it for help.
I opened the data base, clicked on ?L?, scrolled the list down and by golly there it was! ?Lobelia erinus ?Crystal Palace?. You had entered the data base information from Chiltern Seeds catalog.

The Genie Master Database is a very good learning tool for me! The mystery of the ?stuff? is starting to disappear. If I go to screen GA100S02 in the Master Data Base, and take a look, it?s all laid out for me as to how to enter the Lobelia.

I now have the choice of keying in that information by hand into my own data base, or to toggle between the two programs and use Copy and Paste. The mystery of this ?stuff? is beginning to disappear, which adds much to the happiness of this humble Amateur Gardener. Somebody else has done all the work for me! Thanks, George!

Toby

[ideasguy]

That makes good reading, Toby.
In future postings (if the topic became of interest) I was going to cover my own observations on how plants are referred to on US websites, so I guess this is the best opportunity.

Lobelia erinus ?Crystal Palace' is as good an example as we could choose.
First thing to say is that that is how the name would be "formatted" in magazines and books in the UK.
In the US, the tendency is to put the cultivar name first, then the Genus, so it would be something like this:
 ?Crystal Palace' Lobelia.
As long as you can recognise the elements of plant names in any combination, you will be able to enter them easily in Ideas Genie.

I didn't actually consider this way back in 2002 when most of the design work was done, but I have inadvertently included a program in Ideas Genie/Ideas Genie Pro which does actually present plant names in US style.
Start GA022 and use the Data Source popup to open the Master Database.
At the bottom, use the search box and type Lobelia.
48 plant are listed at time of writing.
Now note that there are two tabs above the list:
a) Order by Plant Name (the default when you start the program)
b) Order by Cultivar
Click the latter.
The list of plants are organised by Cultivar name, and the Cultivar name is shown first in each line - US style
Give GA022 a go, folk. Should I provide that option in other programs?

Incidentally, I find Lobelia are easier to grow when sown at end of March and into April. No need to mollycoddle them at that time of year. In my cool greenhouse, I just surface sow in a tray and cover with a sheet of glass to help keep it moist until germinated.  Remove glass after germination. I don't try to prick them out when small. I wait until they have filled the tray, and there are plenty of roots. I use a forked pricking out tool and dig out small bunches (I suppose about 5 seedlings or more) and pot them up in 3in pots - suitable for baskets. For planting in open ground (they are fantastic for edge of border) I would pick out larger bunches. Crystal Palace is easy using that method as well. I find the trailing varieties more "challenging" - they don't germinate as prolifically as the uprights. My experience only of course. Not to be recommended to wannabe purists.
My favourite? Look in that list and you'll find Mrs Clibran. Lovely deep blue flowers with a good white eye. Its an upright variety - great for edge of border.