Gardening with the RHS
What's in a name?
Published: 3 March 2022 at 12:45 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Plant names and their pronunciation can be a vexed business. If you’re overwhelmed by long Latin plant names, take heart: botanist and author James Wong comes to the rescue and explains why the botanical names matter and how a little knowledge of them can give us clues as to how plants look and perform. He explains that since Latin is a dead language, there’s no-one around to correct your pronunciation – so just go ahead and have a go!
When familiar plant names are changed, it can be a source of annoyance for us gardeners. But James Armitage, Editor of The Plant Review, explains there is method behind the apparent madness of this; plus, after the storms, what you need to check in your garden this weekend.
Useful links
Promoting garden plant diversity (RHS website)
Meet the RHS horticultural taxonomy team
