Gardening Glossary » R
Raised Beds - Planting areas that are mounded or boxed above ground level. Hilling soil is another method of raising the soil level. Soil dries out and warms up much more quickly permitting earlier planting and later harvesting.
Rampart - A large defensive fortification consisting of an embankment and often topped by a parapet.
Rank Foliage - New foliage that has grown too large.
Redoubt - A small defensive earthwork fortification, sometimes temporary, and sometimes used to reinforce a permanent rampart.
Relative Humidity - The measurement of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere.
Rhizome - A thickened stem with root below and growth above. The area where food energy may be stored, as in bearded iris.
Rococo - Artistic style of the early eighteenth century characterized by energy, lightness, delicacy, playfulness, and self-conscious artificiality; it was replaced by a more stern neoclassicism.
Root Ball - The network of roots along with the attached soil, of any given plant.
Rootbound - A condition which exists when a potted plant has outgrown its container. The roots become entangled and matted together, and the growth of the plant becomes stunted. When repotting, loosen the roots on the outer edges of the root ball, to induce them to once again grow outward.
Rooting Hormone - A powder of liquid growth hormone, used to promote the development of roots on a cutting.
Rotunda - A circular, domed building or hall.
Runner - A slender stem growing out from the base of some plants, which terminates with a new offset plant. The new plant may be severed from the parent after it has developed sufficient roots.
Rustication - The roughened finish, naturally or artificially created, on blocks of stone or masonry, and the deep engraving of the joints between the blocks; rustication is often used on the facade of the ground floor of a Palladian building.