Examples of some easy-care perennials include hosta, phlox, and sedum. Perennials are in it for the long haul. For reliable color year after year, look for perennial flowers.
These plants come back in spring, growing bigger and better with each succeeding season. If you want color all season, plant a mixture of spring-, summer-, and fall-flowering perennials.
Annual Plants Here are the characteristics of annual plants. Annuals have a one-season lifespan. But they make up for it with their blooms! They flower like crazy for one season. At the end of their growing season, most will set seed. This is the life cycle of an annual: sprout, flower, set seed, die. Annuals can grow anywhere. In pots, window boxes, containers, garden beds, and landscapes, annuals, such as begonia, shown here, can be jammed in about anywhere and will bloom happily.
Annuals have light preferences. Like perennials, annual plants also have specific light needs. Some love full hot baking sun, such as petunias and geraniums. Others prefer shade, such as begonias and impatiens.
Annuals bloom non-stop. One of the biggest benefits of growing annuals is that most of them put on a showy floral display that can last throughout the summer.
Many annual varieties are simple to start from seeds, but healthy starter plants are usually available each spring in garden centers. One example of an annual flower is the cosmos Cosmos bipinnatus , which produces ferny green leaves on stems that branch into a bushy shape.
These sun-loving flowers commonly reach 3 to 4 feet tall, and sometimes up to 6 feet tall, and are available in pink, red or white colors. Pot marigold Calendula officinalis produces large flowers throughout the summer in shades of yellow or orange. This plant forms clumps of leaves and blossoms 1 to 2 feet tall and wide.
The bright blossoms attract butterflies to the garden. Perennials come back for many years, depending on the plant and winter weather conditions. Mix it up.
In a garden just as in life, there is value to having variety. Perennials cut down on the work of planting and some provide great ground cover while annuals adds long-lasting beauty and longer bloom times. Having a variety of plants also provides habitat for many different pollinators and other garden visitors. Give them some help getting established. Water all plants deeply right after planting, especially during dry spells.
Use mulch to preserve moisture and keep down weeds, which compete for water and nutrients. Here's how to calculate how much mulch you need. Feed your plants with a slow-release general purpose fertilizer. Pick the right spot. In general, full sun is considered six to eight hours per day. Part shade means roughly three to six hours of sun. Full shade is about three to four hours a day.
I thoroughly enjoy seeing the questions that our readers send. Over the years, some questions from readers have become my favorites. These are the questions and answers that have taught me the most.
Question: I am a fairly new gardener and have some stupid questions about when to use annuals and when to use perennials.
I guess what I really want to know is why plant annuals if they are going to die in a few months? The garden catalogs are full of pictures of beautiful perennials. Why not just plant perennials if the annuals are going to die anyway? Answer : Since the writer of the question, unlike many new gardeners, knows and does describe the difference between annuals and perennials, she is more knowledgeable than most beginners.
She may also be aware that some of the most beautiful gardens in the world are composed entirely of perennials. What she probably does not know is that planting and maintaining those beds is considerably more expensive and more labor-intensive think full-time gardeners than planting and replanting annuals or a combination of perennials and annuals.
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