Yard waste – what I think of when I hear the term “plant material.”
Have you ever noticed that people in the plant business refer to plants as “plant material”? I’ve heard the term used by growers, landscapers, landscape architects, and horticulturists, and it makes no sense to me.
Why use five syllables when one works perfectly? I’ve even heard someone refer to “pieces of plant material,” when he could have said – again – “plants.” This is me wanting to be other people’s editor.
There’s also me wincing when I hear plants made fungible, like mulch or soil. Regular gardeners naturally say “plants,” never that longer term that forces us to see all plants as the same. Or am I over-reacting here?
Alternative title: “Selecting the Best Trees and Shrubs”?
Dictionaries on “plant material”
Science Direct: “Plant material refers to any organic matter derived from plants, including living, dead, or processed components such as leaves, stems, roots, flowers, seeds, bark, and wood. It is widely used in gardening, science, and industry, encompassing materials ranging from plant debris and soil amendments to botanical medicine components.”
A definition site called Reverso offers two usages. In gardening it means “parts of plants used for specific purposes.” And in biology it means “substance originating from plants, s in “The compost is rich in plant material.”
At the Free Dictionary, it’s described as “material derived from plants.”
SOME correct usages
I DID notice the U.S. Forest Service writing about “the use of native plant material (seeds, cuttings, plants)”… and the USDA using “plant material” to refer to “plants, plant products and other items that could, introduce pests.” In these cases, when referring to a variety of plant parts, “plant material” makes sense. But too often, I hear it used to refer just to plants – like Illinois’s Extension did in the screen shot above. And it bugs me. Am I the only one?
THESE are Plants
If you’re talking just about plants – but not seeds – call them “plants”! (An old photo of plants at Behnkes Nurseries.)
You are not overreacting. People think it makes things more important when they use more words to describe it. But it doesn’t.
Agree 100%. It’s all marketing smoke and mirrors to business owners, of whatever stripe.
The term that bothers me is referring to plants as ‘pieces’. ” If we get the right pieces in place the garden will look good”
agree…. Like they’re furniture…. sigh.
I get it, and generally agree. As an example of industry “jargon”, I hope it is a short-lived one. I enjoy videos on architecture, but the narrative discussing the “materiality” used in a project has me rolling my eyes. And yes, my writing teacher would mark me down for using that colloquialism.
I worked in the industry for 20 plus years and the term “plant material” was used to designate it from “hardgoods”- meaning everything not a plant. It also helps to desensitize your self from the individual plants when you have to compost them because they didn’t sell. It is an industry and there is no room from sentimentality. The plant material is grown as a crop to generate revenue.
Worse still is at a garden center I worked it was called “product” and as one of my roles was marketing plants, I objected to the term
Mary Beth said it well. I too worked in and with the landscape industry for most of my career, and it useful to both group types of plants and to differentiate between ‘green goods’, ‘hard goods’, labor, etc.
Industry and academic specific terms simply help those working in that industry comunicate more effectively between themselves, so may seem like jargon to others.
Agreed! Plants are plants and plant material is something else altogether!
I am a part of the grower/retailer world and have been for over 30 years and wince and now verbally scold when I see the words plant material, product, item, merchandise, load and inventory used to describe plants for sale. Don’t use the word(s) if they don’t fit per the definition and if you can’t use them coherently in another sentence. Ex- I’m going to go plant my products today. Won’t my items look beautiful hanging from the front porch? I wonder how much inventory I will need to plant the front garden?
Excellent! Seems the problem is basically when the plant-biz folks use that language with retail customers. And the general public.
Hmmm, Construction materials, building materials plant materials.
Just add the “s’ and it fits as a generic term used in several industries.
As a nursery owner, and a design-build landscape architect for 46 years the use of it is well understood.
When writing job Specifications the heading Plant Materials is widely recognized.
So, Go ahead and Rant -on….
Hey Byrne! Come dancing sometime soon at the New Deal Cafe! You’re always the best (male) dancer there.
Agree, but I was also distracted & disturbed by the missing apostrophe – “because its typically the cheapest” – from a University??