When you walk into a garden center, you see different categorizations of plants all around, but do you really know what they mean? The difference between these plants lies in more than just their names, and if you want to have a thriving landscape you should be acquainted with exactly how they differ. To start your plant education, know these key differences between annuals and perennials.
Planting and Grow Seasons
Perhaps the biggest difference between annuals and perennials is their growing patterns. Annuals last just one growing season, so they need to be replanted every year. Typically, you would plant annuals in the spring or summer, they would bloom for the season and then die at the end of it. There are cool-season types as well that develop roots and greenery in milder temperatures of the spring and fall, allowing them to withstand some frost.
Unlike annuals, perennials live for more than one year and tend to come back season after season. This allows perennials to be a permanent staple in your garden, similar to shrubs and bushes. Depending on the exact type of perennial, these plants may die down in the winter and reappear in the spring, or remain virtually unchanged during the colder months, like evergreen trees.
Uses In Your Landscaping
Gardening enthusiasts not only use the growing seasons of annuals and perennials to determine what to plant but their aesthetic characteristics as well. While annuals may not last from year to year, their lush and colorful blooms make them well worth the investment. Gardeners often use annuals to create landscape or garden borders or plant them in containers and flower boxes to brighten up the scenery.
Professionals will more often use perennials as the base or staple of the garden. Plants like hostas and hydrangeas are perennials that give a landscape a full, leafy effect and can also produce flowers in later seasons. After about four years, you can divide your perennials to make more flowers.
The best gardens are often a measured combination of perennials and annuals, supplanted by landscape supplies to make the garden thrive. No matter which kind of plants you choose, make sure they’ll be able to thrive in your yard. About 92% of homeowners who are adding plants to their yards are tending towards plants that are native to their region, to ensure a garden that is more likely to blossom. As long as you give your plants the right conditions and materials in order to thrive, you’ll be sure to have a beautiful garden.
