off-topic botanical question: Curious about shrubs as a gardening term
Marguerite English (Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:01:35 PST)

I have been doing some studying about garden terms and have a botanical
question. I was looking at Phygelius information and it was identified
as a shrub. I had previously called it a perennial. So what
differentiates a shrub from other perennials? I noticed some authors
by-pass this problem by calling certain plants "sub-shrubs." And how
does something like Yucca or Hesperaloe fit in? Are they shrubs also,
even though they are succulent?

Thanks for considering this... Marguerite, still growing
mostly Iridaceae and Zephyranthes, and developing a new cottage-like
garden for my local arid, dry and windy planting conditions at 3700 feet
in southern California mountains.