Gardening A to Z: W

Useful information for you, brought to you by Garden NZ

Introduction
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Water Plant
A plant able to grow with at least its base immersed in water. Aquatics come in many different forms, including submerged, emergent and floating. Gardeners use aquatics mostly in ponds and streams, but they are also grown in tanks by aquarium fanciers.

Weed
Any plant that is unwanted and a nuisance in the context of a particular environment, whether it be a garden, a cultivated field, a pasture or in natural woodland or forest. In natural vegetation weeds are almost by definition exotic to the region, but in gardens they may include some native plants. Weeds cause much economic loss and there is a large industry devoted to their control. They compete with cultivated plants for water, nutrients and sunlight as well as contaminating harvested crops, or spoiling the aesthetics of ornamental plantings.

Weeds, Lichen & Moss
One can spend a lot of time in the garden dealing with weeds and other unwanted pests. The Garden Doctor has come up with some easy solutions to help you keep your weeds under control.

Weekend Gardener
New Zealand's Fortnightly Gardening Magazine. Packed with practical tips, very informative and easy-to-read. Great reading for $2.50.

Weeping
Used mostly for trees and shrubs with pendulous branches or branchlets, as in Weeping Willows.

White Fly
Very small, winged, sap-sucking insects of the family Aleyrodidae, which belongs to the same order of insects as the aphids. They settle on some cultivated plants e.g. cabbages, in large numbers and affect their health. White flies are a particularly bad pest of greenhouse and indoor plants, but are fairly easily controlled by spraying.

Wood, Woody
A stem which may not be big enough to use as timber but which contains hardened cells and is more or less permanent. It is characteristic of trees and shrubs, but some climbers, such as the Grape, are also woody.

Woodland Gardens
Like a wood- traditionally English trees with shrubs and bulbs. But any natural looking planting, including New Zealand native bush, could be termed a woodland garden.

Worm Farming
With the aid of a domestic worm composting unit you can start breeding your own worms, even if you don't have a garden.

Willow Creek
Stunning pieces for your garden. Giving a peaceful and sentimental feel these pieces will look great inside or out. This presentation is available with or without 'make-up'. Each is hand carved with a chainsaw, refined and coloured using a permanent oxide. No two are the same so whatever you choose is yours and only yours.