When planning your garden, it is often helpful to do a little research.  Reading product descriptions, customer reactions, and gardening articles can help provide valuable information for your project.  Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand the information that is provided if you are unfamiliar with the terms that are being used.  Here are a couple of terms that are used by the gardening community and the definitions of these terms.

Hybrid:  In gardening, this refers to a cross between two plant types or varieties in an attempt to create more desirable characteristics.  For example, two rose bushes might be crossed to create one bush that has a more colorful bloom and is less susceptible to diseases or insects.  You might see this with fruit bearing plants to create the same results (except healthier fruit instead of blooms).

Genetically Modified Organism - GMO:  This is a process to yield similar results to a hybrid plant (more resistant to disease, pests, etc.).  Instead of crossing two plant varieties, this process involves changing the DNA of the plant to produce the desired characteristics.  This is a relatively new process and sparks a lot of debate.

Grafting:  This is the process of taking the stock of one plant and fusing it to the root system (or root stock) of another plant.  This process is common with trees and a variety of different plants.  There are several reasons for this process.  Fusing a different root system to a plant can make it more adaptable to soil types and soil moistures (a grafted plant might be more drought resistant, or might allow for growth in a sandy soil instead of clay soil).  This might also be done to promote deeper or more shallow root growth (depending on the desired outcome).  The mature height of the tree can also be affected by grafting (could cause a species to grow shorter or taller).

Organic Gardening:  This has to do with growing plants without the aid of chemically manufactured pesticides and fertilizers.  The National Organics Standards Board (NOSB) defines organic agriculture as "an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity."  The NOSB goes on to say that "it is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony."