Ivydene Gardens Plants:
Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soils S-Z

Tree/Shrub Growth Shape with
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

The plants suitable for Lime-Free Soil list is sorted in the following pages under the following Name:-

• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil A-F Page 1 of 3
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil A-F Page 2 of 3
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil A-F Page 3 of 3
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil G-L Page
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil M-R Page
• Plants for Lime-Free (Acid) Soil S-Z Page

Surface soil moisture is the water that is in the upper 10 cm (4 inches) of soil, whereas root zone soil moisture is the water that is available to plants, which is generally considered to be in the upper 200 cm (80 inches) of soil:-

• Wet Soil has Saturated water content of 20-50% water/soil and is Fully saturated soil
• Moist Soil has Field capacity of 10-35% water/soil and is Soil moisture 2–3 days after a rain or irrigation
• Dry Soil has Permanent wilting point of 1-25% water/soil and is Minimum soil moisture at which a plant wilts
• Residual water content of 0.1-10% water/soil and is Remaining water at high tension
• Available Water Capacity for plants is the difference between water content at field capacity and permanent wilting point

Sun Aspect:-

• Full Sun: At least 6 full hours of direct sunlight. Many sun lovers enjoy more than 6 hours per day, but need regular water to endure the heat.
• Part Shade: 3 - 6 hours of sun each day, preferably in the morning and early afternoon. The plant will need some relief from the intense late afternoon sun, either from shade provided by a nearby tree or planting it on the east side of a building.
  Dappled Sun - DS in Part Shade Column: Dappled sunlight is similar to partial shade. It is the sun that makes its way through the branches of a deciduous tree. Woodland plants and underplantings prefer this type of sunlight over even the limited direct exposure they would get from partial shade.
• Full Shade: Less than 3 hours of direct sunlight each day, with filtered sunlight during the rest of the day. Full shade does not mean no sun.

When selecting plants, you should start by using what you already have in the garden; especially mature trees and shrubs. Each tree or shrub will have one of the following growth shapes:-
Columnar
Oval
Rounded/ Spherical
Flattened Spherical
Narrow conical/ Narrow Pyramidal
Broad Conical/ Broad Pyramidal
Ovoid/ Egg-shaped
Broad Ovoid
Narrow Vase-shaped/ Inverted Ovoid
Fan-shaped/ Vase-shaped
Narrow Weeping
Broad Weeping
Single-stemmed palm, cyad, or similar tree
Multi-stemmed palm, cyad, or similar tree

When selecting plants, you should start by using what you already have in the garden; especially mature shrubs and some of your perennials.
Growth Habit - The way a plant grows is genetically determined. How well individual plants grow varies with:

• availability of light,
• exposure to wind,
• and competition for food and space with other plants.

So, if you wish to see your plant at its best, rather than as a plant within a hedge effect, please give it room to grow to produce its natural growth habit. Mature shrubs and perennials will have one of the following growth habits:-
Mat-forming.
Stems densely cover the ground and the flowers extend above.
Prostrate or Trailing.
Stems spread out on the ground and the flowers are borne close to the foliage.
Cushion or Mound-forming.
Tightly packed stems form a low clump and
the flowers are close to the foliage.
Spreading or Creeping.
Stems extend horizontally then ascend, forming a densely packed mass.
Clump-forming.
Leaf-stalks and flower stems arise at ground level to form a dense mass.
Stemless.
Leaf-stalks and flower stems arise at ground level.
Erect or Upright.
Upright stems stand vertical, supporting leaves and the flowers.
Climbing and Scandent.
Long flexible stems are supported by other plants or structures.
Arching.
Long upright stems arch over from the upright towards the ground.

Chalky alkaline soils are derived from chalk or limestone with a pH of 7.1 or above.
Clay soils swell and shrink as they wet and dry.
Lime-Free soils are acidic and without chalk.
In poorly drained soils (50 % solid materials and about 50 % pore space), most of the pore space is filled with water for long periods of time, leaving too little air.
Light sandy soils dry out quickly and are low in nutrients.

Clay soil will absorb 40% of its volume in water before it turns from a solid to a liquid. This fact can have a serious effect on your house as subsidence.
A mixture of clay, sand, humus and bacterium is required to make soil with a good soil structure for your plants.
The rain or your watering can provides the method for transportation of nutrients to the roots of your plants. Soil organisms link this recycling of nutrients from the humus to the plant.
Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen as gas is used and expired by the roots of plants into a soil which has airspace in it in order for those plants to grow.
Understanding the above provides you with an action plan for you to do with your own soil.

Explaination of how soil works:-

"Plants are in Control

Most gardeners think of plants as only taking up nutrients through root systems and feeding the leaves. Few realize that a great deal of energy that results from photosynthesis in the leaves is actually used by plants to produce chemicals they secrete through their roots. These secretions are known as exudates. A good analogy is perspiration, a human's exudate.

Root exudates are in the form of carbohydrates (including sugars) and proteins. Amazingly, their presence wakes up, attracts, and grows specific beneficial bacteria and fungi living in the soil that subsist on these exudates and the cellular material sloughed off as the plant's root tips grow. All this secretion of exudates and sloughing off of cells takes place in the rhizosphere, a zone immediately round the roots, extending out about a tenth of an inch, or a couple of millimetres. The rhizosphere, which can look like a jelly or jam under the electron microscope, contains a constantly changing mix of soil organisms, including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, and even larger organisms. All this "life" competes for the exudates in the rhizosphere, or its water or mineral content.

At the bottom of the soil food web are bacteria and fungi, which are attracted to and consume plant root exudates. In turn, they attract and are eaten by bigger microbes, specifically nematodes and protozoa who eat bacteria and fungi (primarily for carbon) to fuel their metabolic functions. Anything they don't need is excreted as wastes, which plant roots are readily able to absorb as nutrients. How convenient that this production of plant nutrients takes place right in the rhizosphere, the site of root-nutrient absorption.

At the centre of any viable soil food web are plants. Plants control the food web for their own benefit, an amazing fact that is too little understood and surely not appreciated by gardeners who are constantly interfereing with Nature's system. Studies indicate that individual plants can control the numbers and the different kinds of fungi and bacteria attracted to the rhizosphere by the exudates they produce.

Soil bacteria and fungi are like small bags of fertilizer, retaining in their bodies nitrogen and other nutrients they gain from root exudates and other organic matter. Carrying on the analogy, soil protozoa and nematodes act as "fertilizer spreaders" by releasng the nutrients locked up in the bacteria and fungi "fertilizer bags". The nematodes and protozoa in the soil come along and eat the bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere. They digest what they need to survive and excrete excess carbon and other nutrients as waste.

The protozoa and nematodes that feasted on the fungi and bacteria attracted by plant exudates are in turn eaten by arthropods such as insects and spiders. Soil arthropods eat each other and themselves are the food of snakes, birds, moles and other animals. Simply put, the soil is one big fast-food restaurant.

Bacteria are so small they need to stick to things, or they will wash away; to attach themselves they produce a slime, the secondary result of which is that individual soil particles are bound together. Fungal hyphae, too, travel through soil particles, sticking to them and binding them together, thread-like, into aggregates.

Worms, together with insect larvae and moles move through the soil in search of food and protection, creating pathways that allow air and water to enter and leave the soil. The soil food web, then, in addition to providing nutrients to roots in the rhizosphere, also helps create soil structure: the activities of its members bind soil particles together even as they provide for the passage of air and water through the soil.

Without this system, most important nutrients would drain from soil. Instead, they are retained in the bodies of soil life. Here is the gardener's truth: when you apply a chemical fertilizer, a tiny bit hits the rhizosphere, where it is absorbed, but most of it continues to drain through soil until it hits the water table. Not so with the nutrients locked up inside soil organisms, a state known as immobilization; these nutrients are eventully released as wastes, or mineralized. And when the plants themselves die and are allowed to decay in situ, the nutrients they retained are again immobilized in the fungi and bacteria that consume them.

Just as important, every member of the soil food web has its place in the soil community. Each, be it on the surface or subsurface, plays a specific role. Elimination of just one group can drastically alter a soil community. Dung from mammals provides nutrients for beetles in the soil. Kill the mammals, or eliminate their habitat or food source, and you wont have so many beetles. It works in reverse as well. A healthy soil food web won't allow one set of members to get so strong as to destroy the web. If there are too many nematodes and protozoa, the bacteria and fungi on which they prey are in trouble and, ultimately, so are the plants in the area.

And there are other benefits. The nets or webs fungi form around roots act as physical barriers to invasion and protect plants from pathogenic fungi and bacteria. Bacteria coat surfaces so thoroughly, there is no room for others to attach themselves. If something impacts these fungi or bacteria and their numbers drop or disappear, the plant can easily be attacked."

Negative impacts on the soil food web -->

Negative impacts on the soil food web

"Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides affect the soil food web, toxic to some members, warding off others, and changing the environment. Important fungal and bacterial relationships don't form when a plant can get free nutrients. When chemically fed, plants bypass the microbial-assisted method of obtaining nutrients, and microbial populations adjust accordingly. Trouble is, you have to keep adding chemical fertilizers and using "-icides", because the right mix and diversity - the very foundation of the soil food web - has been altered.

It makes sense that once the bacteria, fungi, nematodes and protozoa are gone, other members of the soil food web disappear as well. Earthworms, for example, lacking food and irritated by the synthetic nitrates in soluble nitrogen fertilizers, move out. Since they are major shredders of organic material, their absence is a great loss. Soil structure deteriorates, watering can become problematic, pathogens and pests establish themselves and, worst of all, gardening becomes a lot more work than it needs to be.

If the salt-based chemical fertilizers don't kill portions of the soil food web, rototilling (rotovating) will. This gardening rite of spring breaks up fungal hyphae, decimates worms, and rips and crushes arthropods. It destroys soil structure and eventually saps soil of necessary air. Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link: if there is a gap in the soil food web, the system will break down and stop functioning properly.

Gardening with the soil food web is easy, but you must get the life back in your soils. First, however, you have to know something about the soil in which the soil food web operates; second, you need to know what each of the key members of the food web community does. Both these concerns are taken up in the rest of Part 1" of Teaming with Microbes - The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis ISBN-13:978-1-60469-113-9 Published 2010.

This book explains in non-technical language how soil works and how you can improve your garden soil to make it suitable for what you plant and hopefully stop you using chemicals to kill this or that, but use your grass cuttings and prunings to mulch your soil - the leaves fall off the trees, the branches fall on the ground, the animals shit and die on the land in old woodlands and that material is then recycled to provide the nutrients for those same trees, rather than being carefully removed and sent to the dump as most people do in their gardens leaving bare soil."

The following is from "A land of Soil, Milk and Honey" by Bernard Jarman in Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015 - Journal of the Biodynamic Association;_

"Soil is created in the first place through the activity of countlesss micro-organisms, earthworms and especially the garden worm (Lumbricus terrestris). This species is noticeably active in the period immediately before and immediately after mid-winter. In December we find it (in the UK) drawing large numbers of autumn leaves down into the soil. Worms consume all kinds of plant material along with sand and mineral substances. In form, they live as a pure digestive tract. The worm casts excreted from their bodies form the basis of a well-structured soil with an increased level of available plant nutrients:-

• 5% more nitrogen,
• 7% more phosphorous and
• 11% more potasium than the surrounding topsoil.

Worms also burrow to great depths and open up the soil for air and water to penetrate, increasing the scope of a fertile soil.

After the earthworm, the most important helper of the biodynamic farmer is undoubetdly

• the cow. A cow's digestive system is designed to make use of roughage such as grass and hay. Cow manure is arguably the most effective and long lasting of all the fertilizing agents at the farmer's disposal and has been found to have a carry over effect of at least 4 years. It is also one of the most balanced and it contains no grass seeds, since they have been completely digested.
• Pig manure is rich in potassium, attractive to earthworms and beneficial on sandy soils.
• Horse manure increases soil activity and stimulates strong healthy growth, but it does contain grass seed and other seeds."

To locate mail-order nursery for plants from the UK in this gallery try using search in RHS Find a Plant.

To locate plants in the European Union (EU) try using Search Term in Gardens4You and Meilland Richardier in France.

To locate mail-order nursery for plants from America in this gallery try using search in Plant Lust.

To locate plant information in Australia try using Plant Finder in Gardening Australia.

a

Columnar
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

Soil:-

AN = Any Soil

Soil Moisture:-

Sun Aspect:-

Plant Location:-

Plant Name

with link to mail-order nursery in UK / Europe

Plant Names will probably not be in Alphabetical Order

Common Name

with link to mail-order nursery in USA

Flower-ing Months

Flower-ing Colour

Height x Spread in
inches (cms).
 

25.4mm = 1 inch

304.8mm = 12 inches

12 inches = 1 foot

3 feet = 1 yard

914.4mm = 1 yard

I normally round this to
30 cm = 1 foot,
90 cm = 3 feet and
100 cm = 40 inches

Plant Type
(Per = Perennial) with link to
Plant Description Page,
Companion Plants to help this plant Page,
Alpine Plant for Rock Garden Index Page
and/or
Native to UK WildFlower Plant in its Family Page in this website

Comment

b

Oval
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

AC = Acid Soil

c

Rounded/ Spherical
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

AL = Alkaline Soil
 

d

Flattened Spherical
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

AN = Any for Acid, Neutral or Alkaline Soil

e

Narrow Conical/ Narrow Pyramidal
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

FA = Grow for Flower Arrangers

f

Broad Conical/ Broad Pyramidal
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

FB = Front of Border
/ Path Edges

RB = Rest of Border

SP = Speciman

RG = Rock Garden

WP = Within Path

CL = Climber or Shrub grown against a wall or fence

g

Ovoid/ Egg-shaped
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

h

Broad Ovoid
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

j

Narrow Vase-shaped/ Inverted Ovoid
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

BE = Bedding

k

Fan-shaped/ Vase-shaped
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

GP = Grow in Pot / Container

m

Narrow Weeping
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

HB = Grow in Hanging Basket

n

Broad Weeping
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

HE = Hedge
SC = Screening

TH =
Thorny Hedge

p

Single-stemmed palm
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

q

Multi-stemmed palm
Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

BG = Grow in Bog Area

1

Mat-forming
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

BA = Grow on Bank / Slope

2

Prostrate or Trailing
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

SE = Seaside / Coastal Plants

3

Cushion or Mound-forming
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

CH = Chalk

EX = Cold Exposed Inland Site

4

Spreading or Creeping
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

CL = Clay

DP = Dust and Pollution Barrier

5

Clump-forming
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

LF = Lime-Free (Acid Soil)

D = Dry

S = Full Sun

SO = Sound Barrier

6

Stemless
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

PD = Poorly Drained
PE = Peaty

M = Moist

PS = Part Shade
DS = Dappled Sun

WI = Wind Barrier

7

Erect or Upright
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

LS = Light Sand

W = Wet

FS = Full Shade

WO = Woodland

8

Climbing and Scandent
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

AN

CH

CL

LF

PD

LS

D

M

W

S

PS

FS

AC

AL

AN

FA

FB
RB

BE

GP

HB

HE

SC

BG

BA

SE

EX

DP

SO

WI

WO

9

Arching
Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

SP
RG

Tree/Shrub Growth Shape

Shrub/Perennial Growth Habit

PE

DS

WP
CL

TH

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

j

k

m

n

p

q

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Plants unlikely to succeed on Alkaline Soils

Shrubs
from Plants unlikely to succeed on Alkaline Soils

LF

AC

Skimmia

Shrubs

LF

AC

Spiraea billiardi

Shrubs

LF

AC

Spiraea douglasii

Shrubs

LF

AC

Spiraea japonica

Shrubs

LF

AC

Tsuga (except Tsuga canadensis and even this needs depth of soil)

Shrubs

LF

AC

Vaccinium

Shrubs

Ferns - Genera such as Blechnum, Cryptogramma, Osmunda and Thelypteris
from Plants unlikely to succeed on Alkaline Soils

LF

AC

Thelypteris

Ferns

Plants
from Ferguson's Garden Plant Directory

LF

S

Tamarix pentandra

Plants for Full Sun

LF

S

Tamarix tetrandra

Plants for Full Sun

LF

S

Plants for Full Sun

LF

S

PS

Ulex europaeus 'Plenus'

Plants for
Full Sun (or Part Shade)

LF

S

PS

Tropaeolum speciosum

Flame Flower

Plants for
Full Sun (or Part Shade)

LF

S

PS

Taxodium distichum

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

LF

S

PS

Sorbus vilmorinii

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

LF

S

PS

Vaccinium corymbosum

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

LF

S

PS

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

LF

S

PS

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

LF

S

PS

Plants for
Full Sun or Part Shade

Acid soils are typically very fertile, nutrient-rich, and moist with good drainage. The right conditions for some acid-loving plants can be created in containers of ericaceous compost.

Acid soil is most common in places that experience heavy rainfall and have moister environments. Areas in red have acidic soil, areas in yellow are neutral and areas in blue have alkaline soil in the World Map. Find Me Plants has further details on other plants for acidic soils, when you set Soil ph in Part 1: Surveying the planting area to Acidic (sandy/peaty) soil. 203 plants that love acidic soils. Best plants for acid soil.

Action to assist in Lime-Free (Acid) soil maintenance:-

• Mulch the beds with a 4 inch (100mm) deep layer of Bark Mulch to improve fertility and drainage; preferably in the Autumn in between the existing plants, and top it up each year after that. This will stop the Lime-Free soil from drying out through the action of sun and wind on its surface, and to provide carbon to aid in soil formation and fertility.
• If starting a new lawn or bed, rotovate the wet Lime-Free soil, add the 4 inch layer of Spent Mushroom Compost mulch and rotovate that in. Heel and rake the ground for a new turf (or to be seeded) lawn, before laying or seeding it. Insert plants in new bed, before installing the irrigation system and then applying a 4 inch layer of Bark Mulch on top of it.

• Mow the existing lawn closely before spreading a 1/4 inch (6mm) deep layer of any sand (Kiln dried Top Dressing is easier to spread, both available from Gardenscape in small bags or in 1 tonne bags) over it in late April. Also at the same time; spread 5Kg of Dolodust (Dolomitic Lime), with 2Kg of Maxicrop Seaweed Meal over a 25 square yard or 25 square metre lawn area. This will improve the fertility of the lawn by providing silica, calcium and trace elements (See What is Soil Texture Page and How are chemicals stored and released from soil Page in the Soil Section for further details). Spreading the same amount of Maxicrop Seaweed Meal on the flower/vegetable beds at the same time would also be beneficial.

Lime-Free Soil is Acid Soil Type and can be Peaty Soil.

Sources of further information:-

• Chalk and Limestone Gardening by Sarah Coles (ISBN 1 86126 738 X) shows how to improve the soil and which plants flourish on alkaline soils - chalk and clay as well as Plants unlikely to succeed on Alkaline Soils.
• Flora The Gardener's Bible. Chief consultant: Tony Lord. Published in 2003 by Cassell (ISBN 0 30436 435 5) provides the species entries in the plant name column and the cultivation requirements from the genus entry in the Comment column.
• Fern Grower's Manual, revised and expanded edition. Barbara Joe Hoshizaki and Robbin C. Moran. Published by Timer Press in 2001. ISBN-13: 978-0-88192-495-4. This provides detailed, useful advice on cultivation and landscaping for ferns and fern allies in any region on some 700 species from 124 genera.
• Ferguson's Garden Plant Directory by Nicola Ferguson (ISBN 0 330 26594 6) shows which plants flourish on acid soils - Plants suitable for acid soils.
   

Height in inches (cms):-

25.4mm = 1 inch
304.8mm = 12 inches
12 inches = 1 foot
3 feet = 1 yard
914.4mm = 1 yard

I normally round this to
25mm = 1 inch
300mm = 30 cms = 12 inches =1 foot,
900 mm = 3 feet = 1 yard and
1000mm = 100 cms = 1 metre = 40 inches

Perryhill Nurseries sells Plants for a Purpose in these lists:-

• Clay Soils
• Chalk Soils
• Trees and Shrubs suitable for damp sites
• Plants suitable for shady places
• Plants suitable for industrial areas.

Ivydene Gardens Plants:
Flower Arranging Use List, Attracts Birds and Butterflies List, Honey Bee Forage Plants List and Rabbit-resistant List.

Use the following Index to see if the plant mentioned in the remainder of this table is actually detailed in this website:-
Topic
Plants detailed in this website by
Botanical Name
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, I, J, K, L, M, N,
O, P, Q, R, S, T, U,
V, W, X, Y, Z ,
 

Flower Shape

DK Pocket Encyclopedia , Flower Arranging by Malcolm Hillier (ISBN 0-86318-434-0) is a complete practical guide with:-

• Photographic flower guide. It has colour-by-colour and season-by-season, fully illustrated catalogues of the fresh and dried flowers, leaves, seed heads and fruits that can be used.
• Tips and Techniques. There is step-by-step professional guidance on preparation of plant material for fresh flower arranging for every occasion, as well as for drying and preserving.
• Principles of Design. A guide to composition, colour and texture in flower arranging that will help you develop your own style.

The following plants can be used for flower arranging:-

Buddleia
Ceanothus
Choisya ternata (Mexican Orange Blossom)
Clematis
Convallaria majalis (Lily-of-the-Valley)
Cyclamen
Daphne
Daphne mezereum
Delphinium
Eryngium (Sea Holly)
Geraniums (Cranesbill)
Helichrysum
Hypericum
Iris
Lonicera (Honeysuckle)
Lupinus (Lupin)
Narcissus (Daffodil/Narcissus)
Rhododendron
Ribes (Flowering Currant)
Rosmarinus
Solidago (Golden Rod)
Spiraea
 

Number of Petals

Petal-Less

The small fluffy tufts of the meadow rues (Lesser Meadow Rue) are Petal-less Clusters of stamens.

Their is 4 to 8 Sepals for Clematis flowers instead of 4 to 8 Petals and so are Petal-less Clusters of stamens and Sepals (Clematis 'Alba Luxurians').

1

A flower with one large, long, thin petal, typical of ray-florets of the Aster/Daisy Family (Asteraceae). These look like single petals but are all individual flowers, each one capable of producing its own seed. An example is Cosmos bipinnatus - see photo from Higgledy Garden showing the individual petals acting as part of the ray-floret, with their cultivation details.

2

3

An arrangement of 6 segments arranged in 2 whorls, the inner whorl of 3 petals arranged in an equilateral triangle constricted at the base by the 3 outer segments, the sepals (Iris pseuda-corus).

Other examples in Lily and Iris Families.

4

Cross-shaped (Cruciform) - A flower with four petals at right angles to one another (Aethionema armenum). Typical of members of the Cabbage Family (Brassi-caceae).
Some fuchsia also have 4 petals.

An arrange-ment of eight segments arranged in two whorls, the inner whorl of 4 Petals arranged in a cross constricted at the base by the 4 outer segments, the sepals (Veronica pectinata 'Rosea').

The following plants have scented flowers:-

Buddleia
Buddleia davidii (Butterfly Bush)
Buddleia globosa
Ceanothus
Clematis
Convallaria majalis (Lily-of-the-Valley)
Cyclamen
Daphne
Daphne mezereum
Galanthus
Galanthus nivalis (Common Snowdrop)
Iris
Iris foetidissima (Stinking Iris)
Lonicera (Honeysuckle)
Lupinus (Lupin)
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)
Narcissus (Daffodil/Narcissus)
Phlox (Alpine)
Polygonum (Knotweed)
Rhododendron
Ribes (Flowering Currant)
Syringa vulgaris (Lilac)
Verbena
 

5

An arrange-ment of ten segments arranged in two whorls, the inner whorl of 5 petals arranged in a circle constricted at the base by the 5 outer segments, the sepals - Anemone x hybrida.

Buttercups, wild rose, larkspur, columbine (aquilegia), and pinks also have 5 petals

6 or more Petals or Tepals

An arrange-ment of twelve segments arranged in two whorls, the inner whorl of 6 petals arranged in a circle constricted at the base by the 6 outer segments, the sepals - sepals form the outer protection of the flower in bud (Anemone blanda).

On many plants, the number of petals is a Fibon-acci number (0, 1, 1, 2, 3 , 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377,610, 987):

• Some delpiniums have 8,
• corn marigolds, ragwort, cineraria, some daisies have 13,
• some asters, black-eyed susan, chicory have 21,
• plantain, pyrethrum have 34
• michaelmas daisies and the asteraceae family have 55 or 89 petals
• some daisies have 34, 55 or even 89

The overall amount of sunlight received depends on aspect, the direction your garden faces:-

North-facing gardens get the least light and can be damp

South-facing gardens get the most light

East-facing gardens get morning light

West-facing gardens get afternoon and evening light

Sun Aspect, Soil Type, Soil Moisture, Plant Type and Height of Plant are used in the Plant Photo Galleries in the comparison of thumbnail photos

Surface soil moisture is the water that is in the upper 10 cm (4 inches) of soil, whereas root zone soil moisture is the water that is available to plants, which is generally considered to be in the upper 200 cm (80 inches) of soil:-

• Wet Soil has Saturated water content of 20-50% water/soil and is Fully saturated soil
• Moist Soil has Field capacity of 10-35% water/soil and is Soil moisture 2–3 days after a rain or irrigation
• Dry Soil has Permanent wilting point of 1-25% water/soil and is Minimum soil moisture at which a plant wilts
• Residual water content of 0.1-10% water/soil and is Remaining water at high tension
• Available Water Capacity for plants is the difference between water content at field capacity and permanent wilting point

Sun Aspect:-

• Full Sun: At least 6 full hours of direct sunlight. Many sun lovers enjoy more than 6 hours per day, but need regular water to endure the heat.
• Part Shade: 3 - 6 hours of sun each day, preferably in the morning and early afternoon. The plant will need some relief from the intense late afternoon sun, either from shade provided by a nearby tree or planting it on the east side of a building.
  Dappled Sun - DS in Part Shade Column: Dappled sunlight is similar to partial shade. It is the sun that makes its way through the branches of a deciduous tree. Woodland plants and underplantings prefer this type of sunlight over even the limited direct exposure they would get from partial shade.
• Full Shade: Less than 3 hours of direct sunlight each day, with filtered sunlight during the rest of the day. Full shade does not mean no sun.

Plants required for different garden sites:-

• Acid Site - An acid soil has a pH value below 7.0. Clay soils are usually acid and retentive of moisture, requiring drainage. The addition of grit or coarse sand makes them more manageable. Peaty soil is acidic with fewer nutrients and also requires drainage.
• Alkaline Soil - An alkaline soil has a pH value above 7.0. Soils that form a thin layer over chalk restrict plant selection to those tolerant of drought.
• Back of Shady Border
• Bank / Slope problems include soil erosion, surface water, summer drought and poor access (create path using mattock to pull an earth section 180 degrees over down the slope). Then, stabilise the earth with 4 inches (10cms) depth of spent mushroom compost under the chicken wire; before planting climbers/plants through it.
• Bee Pollinated Plant instead of wind-pollinated plant. This prevents the pollen from being blown into faces of hay fever sufferers.
  Bloom per Month
  Blooms Nov-Feb
  Blooms Mar-May
  Blooms Jun-Aug 1, 2
  Blooms Sep-Oct
  
  0-24 inches
  (0-60 cms)
  24-72 inches
  (60-180 cms)
  Above 72 inches
  (180 cms)
• Bog Garden requires plants that prefer water in the soil round their roots.
• Cold Exposed Inland Site is an area that is open to the elements and that includes cold, biting winds, the glare of full sun, frost and snow - These plants are able to withstand very low temperatures and those winds in the South of England.
• Crevice Garden
• Containers in Garden
• Dust and Pollution Barrier 1, 2 - Plants with large horizontal leaves are particularly effective in filtering dust from the environment, with mature trees being capable of filtering up to 70% of dust particles caused by traffic. Plants can also help offset the pollution effects of traffic. 20 trees are needed to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by 1 car driven for 60 miles.
• Edibles in Containers
• Front of Border / Path Edges - Soften edges for large masses of paving or lawn with groundcover plants. Random areas within Paths can be planted with flat-growing plants. Other groundcover plants are planted in the Rest of Border.
• Hanging Basket
• Seaside Plants that deal with salt-carrying gales and blown sand; by you using copious amounts of compost and thick mulch to conserve soil moisture.
• Sound Barrier - The sound waves passing through the plant interact with leaves and branches, some being deflected and some being turned into heat energy. A wide band of planting is necessary to achieve a large reduction in the decibel level.
• Trees for Lawns
• Trees for Small Garden
• Windbreak - By planting a natural windbreak you will create a permeable barrier that lets a degree of air movement pass through it and provide shelter by as far as 30 times their height downwind.
• Woodland ground cover under the shade of tree canopies.
  The plants normally selected by most landscapers and designers are by nature low-growing, rampant, spreading, creep-crawly things and yet the concept of ground cover demands no such thing. The ideal description of a groundcover plant includes:-
  • a bold dense mass of leaves completely covering the ground most of the year; evergreens gain gold stars.
  • They should require little or no maintenance - if you have to give the plant more than its share of attention, you might as well save your money and spend the time weeding.
  • use the plant on ground areas that are difficult to maintain, such as steep banks or boggy patches.
  • use the plant to cover areas where not much will grow, such as deep shade or sandy soils.
    
    Ground Cover a thousand beautiful plants for difficult places by John Cushnie (ISBN 1 85626 326 6) provides details of plants that fulfill the above requirements.
    
    Using these groundcover plants in your planting scheme (either between your trees/shrubs in the border or for the whole border) will - with mulching your beds to a 4 inch depth and an irrigation system - provide you with a planted garden with far less time required for border maintenance.
    
    The groundcover list is sorted in the following pages under the following height of plant range:-
    Below 2 feet (24 inches = 60 cms) in height in Ground-cover List 1 Page
    Between 2 and 6 feet (24 - 72 inches = 60-180 cms) in height in Ground-cover List 2 Page
    Above 6 feet (72 inches = 180 cms) in height in Ground-cover List 3 Page

In the case of some genera and species, at least two - and sometimes dozens of - varieties and hybrids are readily available, and it has been possible to give only a selection of the whole range. To indicate this, the abbreviation 'e.g.' appears before the selected examples ( for instance, Centaurea cyanus e.g. 'Jubilee Gem'). If an 'e.g.' is omitted in one list, although it appears beside the same plant in other lists, this means that that plant is the only suitable one - or the only readily available suitable one - in the context of that particular list.

Flower Shape:

Simple

Stars
 

Stars - Stellate (Star-shaped) is a flower with many narrow petals arising separately from a central point (Anthericum liliago).

Another example is Sisyrinchium bermudianum album.

Bowls
 

Many flowers have centrally positioned sexual organs surrounded by petals and sepals that curve upwards. Doubling of the segments is common, notably roses.

Bowl-shaped - A flower with a deep dish shape, roughly hemi-spherical, with straight sides or with a very slight flare at the tips. Much the same as cup-shaped. An example is Argemone mexicana.

Cups and Saucers

Saucer-shaped - A flower that is almost flat, with slightly upturned petal tips (Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina').

Another example is Geranium wallichianum.

Globes

Globe-shaped - Incurved petals that give the flowers a globular form. (Paeonia mlokose-witschii with its lemon-yellow globes, filled with yellow stamens).

Goblets and Chalices

Goblet-shaped - Flowers such as magnolias are defined by long tapering stems, outlines that are subtly waisted and incurved petals. They suggest vessels of quality. Example of Magnolia grandiflora.

Chalice-shaped - Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' has small chalice-shaped flowers in summer and autumn.

Chalky alkaline soils are derived from chalk or limestone with a pH of 7.1 or above.
Clay soils swell and shrink as they wet and dry.
Lime-Free soils are acidic and without chalk.
In poorly drained soils (50 % solid materials and about 50 % pore space), most of the pore space is filled with water for long periods of time, leaving too little air.
Light sandy soils dry out quickly and are low in nutrients.

Clay soil will absorb 40% of its volume in water before it turns from a solid to a liquid. This fact can have a serious effect on your house as subsidence.

A mixture of clay, sand, humus and bacterium is required to make soil with a good soil structure for your plants.

The rain or your watering can provides the method for transportation of nutrients to the roots of your plants. Soil organisms link this recycling of nutrients from the humus to the plant.

Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen as gas is used and expired by the roots of plants into a soil which has airspace in it in order for those plants to grow.

Understanding the above provides you with an action plan for you to do with your own soil.

Trumpets

Trumpet-shaped - A flower that starts as a narrow tube, but widens into a flared mouth, where the petals often turn back (Acantholimon glumaceum).

Another example is Petunia grandiflora.

Funnels

Funnel-shaped - A flower that widens gradually from the base, ending in an open or flared shape (Stachys macrantha) .

Salverform

Salverform - A flower with a long, thin tube, that widens suddenly into a flat-faced flower (Phlox subulata 'Temis-kaming').

Bells

Bell-shaped (Campan-ulate) - A flower with a wide tube and flared lobes (petal tips), typical of the Bellflower family (Campan-ulaceae). The length of the tube is variable, and the open-ness of the flower, but campan-ulate is generally shorter and fatter than tubular, and more closed than stellate. An example is Campanula cochlear-ifolia pusilla.

Thimbles

The bell or thimble is open-mouthed, but in the heaths (Erica) and others there is a graduation from fully open bells to urn shapes that are constricted at the mouth.

Thimble-shaped - A flower in which the petals are fused into an almost enclosed tube, separating at the mouth into flared recurved back petals. An example is Clematis rehderiana.

Urns

Urn-shaped (Urceolate) - A flower in which the petals are fused into an almost enclosed globe shape, separating at the mouth into individual flared petals. An example is Erica carnea 'Springwood White'.

The following is from "A land of Soil, Milk and Honey" by Bernard Jarman in Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015 - Journal of the Biodynamic Association;_

"Soil is created in the first place through the activity of countlesss micro-organisms, earthworms and especially the garden worm (Lumbricus terrestris). This species is noticeably active in the period immediately before and immediately after mid-winter. In December we find it (in the UK) drawing large numbers of autumn leaves down into the soil. Worms consume all kinds of plant material along with sand and mineral substances. In form, they live as a pure digestive tract. The worm casts excreted from their bodies form the basis of a well-structured soil with an increased level of available plant nutrients:-

• 5% more nitrogen,
• 7% more phosphorous and
• 11% more potasium than the surrounding topsoil.

Worms also burrow to great depths and open up the soil for air and water to penetrate, increasing the scope of a fertile soil.

After the earthworm, the most important helper of the biodynamic farmer is undoubetdly

• the cow. A cow's digestive system is designed to make use of roughage such as grass and hay. Cow manure is arguably the most effective and long lasting of all the fertilizing agents at the farmer's disposal and has been found to have a carry over effect of at least 4 years. It is also one of the most balanced and it contains no grass seeds, since they have been completely digested.
• Pig manure is rich in potassium, attractive to earthworms and beneficial on sandy soils.
• Horse manure increases soil activity and stimulates strong healthy growth, but it does contain grass seed and other seeds."

How to Grow Bonsai from Mrs Green Fingers with her Ideas and Advice for your Garden with Amazon selling Flower Genades

Flower Shape:
Elaborated

Higgledy Garden sells seeds which are chosen for the cut flower patch with Growing Guides, Seed Sowing Guide and Ben's Blog

EXPLAINATION OF WHY SOIL IN UK TOWNS IS USUALLY DEFICIENT IN HUMUS.
That is because when a flower bed is weeded, then the weeds are thrown away. This means that the minerals that weed used up from the soil are also thrown away, and the soil has not received any replacement.

Humus is dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays.
When plants drop leaves, twigs, and other material to the ground, it piles up. This material is called leaf litter. When animals die, their remains add to the litter. Over time, all this litter decomposes. This means it decays, or breaks down, into its most basic chemical elements. Many of these chemicals are important nutrients for the soil and organisms that depend on soil for life, such as plants. The thick brown or black substance that remains after most of the organic litter has decomposed is called humus. Earthworms often help mix humus with minerals in the soil. Humus contains many useful nutrients for healthy soil. One of the most important is nitrogen. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for most plants. Agriculture depends on nitrogen and other nutrients found in humus.When humus is in soil, the soil will crumble. Air and water move easily through the loose soil, and oxygen can reach the roots of plants. Humus can be produced naturally or through a process called composting. When people compost, they collect decaying organic material, such as food and garden scraps, that will be turned into soil.

The humus provides the organic polymers to interact with the clay domains and bacterium to stick the 2 grains of sand together. This soil molecule of 2 grains of sand, organic polymers, clay domains and bacterium will disintegrate by the action of the bacterium or fungal enymatic catalysis on the organic polymers. So if a continuous supply of humus is not present, then the soil molecules will break up into sand and clay.
Because the idiots in the UK do not know about this, this is why they weed a bed, throw away the weed, not provide anything in return and expect the soil to take care of itself.
When you go to view gardens open to the public how many times can you see bare earth between plants in a flower bed? There needs to be either a green manure or an organic mulch between the plants, so that leaf litter etc can decompose and become humus to provide the minerals and humus for the plants. That is what you see when you visit a forest where the fallen leaves, branches, animals and birds are left to their own devices, except when a newly qualified university student came to look after a local authority controlled wooded park, when she got the local population to help her and her staff to remove all the undergrowth, leaving bare earth!

Tubes

Many radially symetretrical flowers are tubular, opening at the mouth to a ring of lobes that are often petal-like.

Tubular - A flower with a long, thin, straight-sided tube formed of united petals, often separating at the mouth into a flared shape (Raoulia australis).

Another example is a Kniphofia hybrid.

Lipped

Flowers that are symetrical in only one plane, as is the case with a large number that are lipped, usually have intriguing shapes, the origin of which is a snug adaptation to a particular pollinator.

Lipped (Labiate) - A flower divided into an upper 'hood' and a lower flat or pouched lip (Prunella grandiflora), typical of members of the Deadnettle/Mint Family (Lamiaceae).

Another example is Salvia texensis.

Strap

Strap-shaped (Ligulate) - A flower with one large, long, thin petal, typical of ray-florets of the Aster/Daisy Family (Asteraceae). These look like single petals but are all individual flowers, each one capable of producing its own seed. An example is Cosmos - see photo from Higgledy Garden showing the individual petals acting as part of the ray-floret, with their cultivation details.

Slippers

Slipper - Flowers described as slipper-shaped (Salvia Black and Blue) are pouched and inflated traps for pollinators.

Spurs

Spurs - Plants evolve nectar spurs to match the tongue-lengths of the pollinators. Then the process stops, and only starts again when there is a change in pollinators. Whittall and Hodges proved this idea by testing the columbine genus Aquilegia (Aquilegia formosa), which is pollinated by bumblebees, hummingbirds and hawkmoths. They found that most of the columbines' nectar spur length evolution happened during shifts in pollinators from bumble-bees to humming-birds, and from humming-birds to hawkmoths. In between these shifts, evolution of the columbines' nectar spurs came to a halt.

Explaination of how soil works:-

"Plants are in Control

Most gardeners think of plants as only taking up nutrients through root systems and feeding the leaves. Few realize that a great deal of energy that results from photosynthesis in the leaves is actually used by plants to produce chemicals they secrete through their roots. These secretions are known as exudates. A good analogy is perspiration, a human's exudate.

Root exudates are in the form of carbohydrates (including sugars) and proteins. Amazingly, their presence wakes up, attracts, and grows specific beneficial bacteria and fungi living in the soil that subsist on these exudates and the cellular material sloughed off as the plant's root tips grow. All this secretion of exudates and sloughing off of cells takes place in the rhizosphere, a zone immediately round the roots, extending out about a tenth of an inch, or a couple of millimetres. The rhizosphere, which can look like a jelly or jam under the electron microscope, contains a constantly changing mix of soil organisms, including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, and even larger organisms. All this "life" competes for the exudates in the rhizosphere, or its water or mineral content.

At the bottom of the soil food web are bacteria and fungi, which are attracted to and consume plant root exudates. In turn, they attract and are eaten by bigger microbes, specifically nematodes and protozoa who eat bacteria and fungi (primarily for carbon) to fuel their metabolic functions. Anything they don't need is excreted as wastes, which plant roots are readily able to absorb as nutrients. How convenient that this production of plant nutrients takes place right in the rhizosphere, the site of root-nutrient absorption.

At the centre of any viable soil food web are plants. Plants control the food web for their own benefit, an amazing fact that is too little understood and surely not appreciated by gardeners who are constantly interfereing with Nature's system. Studies indicate that individual plants can control the numbers and the different kinds of fungi and bacteria attracted to the rhizosphere by the exudates they produce.

Soil bacteria and fungi are like small bags of fertilizer, retaining in their bodies nitrogen and other nutrients they gain from root exudates and other organic matter. Carrying on the analogy, soil protozoa and nematodes act as "fertilizer spreaders" by releasng the nutrients locked up in the bacteria and fungi "fertilizer bags". The nematodes and protozoa in the soil come along and eat the bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere. They digest what they need to survive and excrete excess carbon and other nutrients as waste.

The protozoa and nematodes that feasted on the fungi and bacteria attracted by plant exudates are in turn eaten by arthropods such as insects and spiders. Soil arthropods eat each other and themselves are the food of snakes, birds, moles and other animals. Simply put, the soil is one big fast-food restaurant.

Bacteria are so small they need to stick to things, or they will wash away; to attach themselves they produce a slime, the secondary result of which is that individual soil particles are bound together. Fungal hyphae, too, travel through soil particles, sticking to them and binding them together, thread-like, into aggregates.

Worms, together with insect larvae and moles move through the soil in search of food and protection, creating pathways that allow air and water to enter and leave the soil. The soil food web, then, in addition to providing nutrients to roots in the rhizosphere, also helps create soil structure: the activities of its members bind soil particles together even as they provide for the passage of air and water through the soil.

Without this system, most important nutrients would drain from soil. Instead, they are retained in the bodies of soil life. Here is the gardener's truth: when you apply a chemical fertilizer, a tiny bit hits the rhizosphere, where it is absorbed, but most of it continues to drain through soil until it hits the water table. Not so with the nutrients locked up inside soil organisms, a state known as immobilization; these nutrients are eventully released as wastes, or mineralized. And when the plants themselves die and are allowed to decay in situ, the nutrients they retained are again immobilized in the fungi and bacteria that consume them.

Just as important, every member of the soil food web has its place in the soil community. Each, be it on the surface or subsurface, plays a specific role. Elimination of just one group can drastically alter a soil community. Dung from mammals provides nutrients for beetles in the soil. Kill the mammals, or eliminate their habitat or food source, and you wont have so many beetles. It works in reverse as well. A healthy soil food web won't allow one set of members to get so strong as to destroy the web. If there are too many nematodes and protozoa, the bacteria and fungi on which they prey are in trouble and, ultimately, so are the plants in the area.

And there are other benefits. The nets or webs fungi form around roots act as physical barriers to invasion and protect plants from pathogenic fungi and bacteria. Bacteria coat surfaces so thoroughly, there is no room for others to attach themselves. If something impacts these fungi or bacteria and their numbers drop or disappear, the plant can easily be attacked."

Lockets

Locket - The elaborate locket shape of dicentra flowers (Dicentra scandens) is conveyed by these common names - Bleeding Heart, Dutchman's Breeches, Lady's Locket, Lyre Flower.

Hat or Hood

Some plants have flowers shaped in a way that suggests a head covering. Those with hanging flowers and petals curving back tightly have long been likened to turbans. Usually the hood or helmet is a showy protective covering for the sexual parts of the flower.

Hat or Hood - flowers shaped in a way that suggests a head covering. The hood is a showy protective covering for the sexual parts of the flower. (Acanthus spinosus is hooded by purple bracts)

Helmet

Helmet - Those with hanging flowers and petals curving back tightly have long been likened to turbans, such as Lilium martagon.

Disc

Disc - Many daisies are easy to grow and very free-flowering. The typical colour contrast between the disc and the surround-ing rays creates a lively effect (Argyran-themum 'Maderia Santana'). Many daisies are excellent cut flowers.

Floret

Floret - Floret is a small or reduced flower, especially 1 of a cluster in a composite flower - such as the florets of a sunflower (The very small flowers in a ring inside the yellow petals of Helianthus annuus). It is also any of the tight, branched clusters of flower buds that together form a head of cauliflower or broccoli.

Negative impacts on the soil food web

"Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides affect the soil food web, toxic to some members, warding off others, and changing the environment. Important fungal and bacterial relationships don't form when a plant can get free nutrients. When chemically fed, plants bypass the microbial-assisted method of obtaining nutrients, and microbial populations adjust accordingly. Trouble is, you have to keep adding chemical fertilizers and using "-icides", because the right mix and diversity - the very foundation of the soil food web - has been altered.

It makes sense that once the bacteria, fungi, nematodes and protozoa are gone, other members of the soil food web disappear as well. Earthworms, for example, lacking food and irritated by the synthetic nitrates in soluble nitrogen fertilizers, move out. Since they are major shredders of organic material, their absence is a great loss. Soil structure deteriorates, watering can become problematic, pathogens and pests establish themselves and, worst of all, gardening becomes a lot more work than it needs to be.

If the salt-based chemical fertilizers don't kill portions of the soil food web, rototilling (rotovating) will. This gardening rite of spring breaks up fungal hyphae, decimates worms, and rips and crushes arthropods. It destroys soil structure and eventually saps soil of necessary air. Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link: if there is a gap in the soil food web, the system will break down and stop functioning properly.

Gardening with the soil food web is easy, but you must get the life back in your soils. First, however, you have to know something about the soil in which the soil food web operates; second, you need to know what each of the key members of the food web community does. Both these concerns are taken up in the rest of Part 1" of Teaming with Microbes - The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis ISBN-13:978-1-60469-113-9 Published 2010.

This book explains in non-technical language how soil works and how you can improve your garden soil to make it suitable for what you plant and hopefully stop you using chemicals to kill this or that, but use your grass cuttings and prunings to mulch your soil - the leaves fall off the trees, the branches fall on the ground, the animals shit and die on the land in old woodlands and that material is then recycled to provide the nutrients for those same trees, rather than being carefully removed and sent to the dump as most people do in their gardens leaving bare soil."

Standards, Wings and Keels

Standards, Wings and Keels - Many members of the pea family are highly ornamental, having 5-petalled flowers of butterfly shape, with an upright standard, 2 lateral wings and 2 petals, more or less fused, that form a keel.

Pea-shaped (Papilionaceous) - The flower shape typical of members of the Papilionaceae, having a large upper petal called the standard, two large side petals called wings, and two lower petals, often fused together, called the keel, which encloses the stamens and stigma. This example is Cytisus 'Lena'

Another example is Lathyrus latifolius.

and another; shown below; is
Laburnum watereri 'Vossii'

Pincushions

Pincushions - The pincushions of plants such as scabious (Scabiosa columbaria from BritishFlora) are in reality compound flowerheads, with a dome of central florets surrounded by larger florets.

Tufts

Tufts - The flowerheads of many knapweeds (Greater Knapweed) and

thistles (Melancholy Thistle) consist of Tufty Florets,

Petal-less - but the small fluffy tufts of the meadow rues (Lesser Meadow Rue) are Petal-less Clusters of stamens.

Cushion

Cushion - The Cushions of plants such as Androsace delavayi are compound rosettes of foliage with flowers just above each rosette.

The following details come from Cactus Art:-

"A flower is the the complex sexual reproductive structure of Angiosperms, typically consisting of an axis bearing perianth parts, androecium (male) and gynoecium (female).    

Bisexual flower show four distinctive parts arranged in rings inside each other which are technically modified leaves: Sepal, petal, stamen & pistil. This flower is referred to as complete (with all four parts) and perfect (with "male" stamens and "female" pistil). The ovary ripens into a fruit and the ovules inside develop into seeds.

Incomplete flowers are lacking one or more of the four main parts. Imperfect (unisexual) flowers contain a pistil or stamens, but not both. The colourful parts of a flower and its scent attract pollinators and guide them to the nectary, usually at the base of the flower tube.

Androecium (male Parts or stamens)
It is made up of the filament and anther, it is the pollen producing part of the plant.
Anther This is the part of the stamen that produces and contains pollen. 
Filament This is the fine hair-like stalk that the anther sits on top of.
Pollen This is the dust-like male reproductive cell of flowering plants.

Gynoecium (female Parts or carpels or pistil)
 It is made up of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaflike structures.
Stigma
This is the part of the pistil  which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate. 
Style
This is the long stalk that the stigma sits on top of ovary. 
Ovary
The part of the plant that contains the ovules. 
Ovule
The part of the ovary that becomes the seeds. 

Petal 
The colorful, often bright part of the flower (corolla). 
Sepal 
The parts that look like little green leaves that cover the outside of a flower bud (calix). 
(Undifferentiated "Perianth segment" that are not clearly differentiated into sepals and petals, take the names of tepals.)"

The following details come from Nectary Genomics:-

"NECTAR. Many flowering plants attract potential pollinators by offering a reward of floral nectar. The primary solutes found in most nectars are varying ratios of sucrose, glucose and fructose, which can range from as little a 8% (w/w) in some species to as high as 80% in others. This abundance of simple sugars has resulted in the general perception that nectar consists of little more than sugar-water; however, numerous studies indicate that it is actually a complex mixture of components. Additional compounds found in a variety of nectars include other sugars, all 20 standard amino acids, phenolics, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, vitamins, organic acids, oils, free fatty acids, metal ions and proteins.

NECTARIES. An organ known as the floral nectary is responsible for producing the complex mixture of compounds found in nectar. Nectaries can occur in different areas of flowers, and often take on diverse forms in different species, even to the point of being used for taxonomic purposes. Nectaries undergo remarkable morphological and metabolic changes during the course of floral development. For example, it is known that pre-secretory nectaries in a number of species accumulate large amounts of starch, which is followed by a rapid degradation of amyloplast granules just prior to anthesis and nectar secretion. These sugars presumably serve as a source of nectar carbohydrate.

WHY STUDY NECTAR? Nearly one-third of all worldwide crops are dependent on animals to achieve efficient pollination. In addition, U.S. pollinator-dependent crops have been estimated to have an annual value of up to $15 billion. Many crop species are largely self-incompatible (not self-fertile) and almost entirely on animal pollinators to achieve full fecundity; poor pollinator visitation has been reported to reduce yields of certain species by up to 50%."

Umbel

Umbel - Umbel is where each of the pedicels initiates from about the same point at the tip of the peduncle, giving the appearance of an umbrella-like shape (Androsace bulleyana).

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