Plant Selection Basics for Outdoor Layouts: Plant Names

Yea they all do. Start out as cute little plants. Just as we all started out as cute little babies. NOW look at us. It amazes me how some folks start out with the idea of a "garden” train layout and wind up with "weed” train layout or a "desert" train layout (to avoid weeds!)

Now I know none of us started into this hobby or acquired this addiction with the idea of becoming gardeners. Trains come first. That is understood. BUT if an old salty model railroader would take just a little time to give some thought to plant selection . . . well then their layout might look just a spiffy as the detail on their engines, rolling stock, or structures.

Don’t get me wrong. I have seen some layouts that look like the National Arboretum. Some folks' plants would make a professional Japanese bonsai artist blush, but for the most part, outdoor layouts lack something to be desired when it comes to plant selection and maintenance. Maintenance will be another topic. This go-around I want to talk about plant selection.

Before we begin lets have a little botany lesson on plant names. Now most folks just call plants by a simple name like. . ."holly", or "maple", or "that thing over there". Some get a little more sophisticated and go as far as saying "American holly" or "Japanese maple." That is okay but when you get down to the nitty-gritty of plants there are several types of American hollies and hundreds of different Japanese maples. Some of which would be good for an outdoor train layout and some not so good.

What's in a Name?

To better help resolve the identification of plants botanist came up with a naming system called the "Binominal System of Nomenclature" Impressive isn’t it? Well what it means is that any plant is given two names (bi + nominal = two names). This name is collectively referred to as the Specie name.

For example a Japanese maple by it botanical/binominal name is Acer palmatum. Now most of you couldn't care less about such naming but my point is that if you look a little closer (as I said before) there are hundreds of different types of Acer palmatum plants. So the botanist came up with a further refinement of naming plants and the "sub-specie" name classification of cultivar was created.

Now you might have an Acer palmatum cv. Ruby Lace. Or a Ruby Lace Japanese Maple by common name.

Size Does Matter

So do Zones

One more example might be that one cultivar might be hardy enough to live only on climatic zones 7 and 8 (southern zones), while another cultivar of the same specie might be hardy from zone 4 to zone 8 (northern, temperate, and southern zones). What this would mean is that plant A should not be considered in northern climates. It wouldn’t survive the winters.

More to Come

Note from Editor - The Laceleaf Japanese Maple shown in the inset of the title is actually a "Garnet," from Pacific Coast Maples. It could get as much as eight feet tall over its lifetime, which makes it one of the larger Laceleafs. I liked PCM's photo because it shows how a Laceleaf can lend itself to use as a miniature tree on a railroad, though. And in my native Ohio clay soil, it would take it many years to get much taller than 3'. With judicious trimming, I could keep it small indefinitely. - Paul