Add some gardening lingo to your vocabulary.

Want to impress your friends at your next cocktail party or wow the neighbors? Profound gardening knowledge and jargon might alienate you more than it awes the crowd (from the voice of experience), but a few basics will help when you head to the local garden center or hire a landscaper. Here’s a primer on a bit of common garden lingo.

Quercus alba, Parthenocissus tricuspidata, or anything else that is written in italics and sounds like another language: This is the Latin name or scientific name for a plant. Gardeners use Latin names because a plant might have a half-dozen or more common names. The first word describes the group of plants, like a last name might describe a traditional family. The second word describes the specific type of plant within the group. For example, Quercus refers to all oaks and Quercus alba is specifically white oak. Parthenocissus tricuspidata is Boston ivy.

Hardiness zone: USDA made a pretty map based on average annual winter temperatures across the United States, grouped the temperatures, and numbered them. The numbers go from 1 (lowest winter temperatures) to 13 (highest winter temperatures). Lawrence is in zone 6. Plants hardy to lower numbered zones will survive the winters here, but ask around about summer heat.

Fruit vs. vegetable: Gardeners love this bit of trivia. Yes, a tomato is a fruit in botanical terms because it is a ripened ovary. A vegetable is a plant part used as food like the leaves of lettuce or carrots (roots). But ask a nutritionist and you will get a different answer. USDA recognizes tomatoes, squash and other botanical fruits as vegetables based on nutritional content.

Pinching: In the case of plants, pinching is only painful when a gardener spends too much time bending or kneeling to finish the job. Pinching is basically what it sounds like, but with a purpose. Use the motion to remove the growing point from the top of the stem. Pinching encourages branching lower on the stem and can prevent early flowering. Chrysanthemums are routinely pinched in late spring and early summer to get the nice uniform shape and even late-season flowering for which they are known.

B and B: Gardeners may love their plants, but weekend getaways are another story when a gardener talks b and b. In this case, the letters refer to “balled and burlapped” trees and shrubs. B and B trees and shrubs have been dug from a field with round shovels or a mechanical spade. Their roots are wrapped in burlap to prevent soil and moisture loss. Large plants may also have a wire basket placed around the mass of roots to add extra support.

Hybrid: A hybrid is produced when two plants (or animals) of different species are crossed to make a more desirable plant. Daylily lovers commonly take pollen from one flower to another in hopes of the next great most beautiful daylily ever. Many vegetable seeds on the market are also hybrids — to get a bigger, better-flavored tomato, or especially tasty sweet corn.

Canopy: In the gardening world, canopy refers to the above-ground part of the plant and is most commonly used in reference to trees. Think of the expanse of tree leaves and branches in the same way that a cloth canopy provides cover.

Dripline: If you could look straight down on a tree from the sky and draw a circle at the edge of the branches, the dripline would be that circle. It is an invisible line on the ground, named because it differentiates the area where rain drips through the canopy.

— Jennifer Smith is a former horticulture extension agent for K-State Research and Extension and horticulturist for Lawrence Parks and Recreation. She is the host of “The Garden Show” and has been a gardener since childhood. Send your gardening questions and feedback to features@ljworld.com.