Dig This
The bookazine for people who love dirt!

Those of us that rely on catalogs to order plants sight unseen are at the mercy of the catalog writer. They have their own language which is sometimes indecipherable. The fact is no one is going to proclaim that they have grown 2,000 or 20,000 ugly plants that they want us to buy, and that's where catalog speak comes in. Buyer beware! So here are a few tips to help you decode the vagaries of catalog descriptions without joining the CIA.

Here's some catalog speak you may want to give a second glance.

By Stephanie Cohen

Stephanie Cohen is an award-winning writer and garden designer known to many as "The Perennial Diva". Look for her new book in May from Timber Press The Nonstop Garden, a book on mixed borders, which is co-written with Jen Benner.