The difference between perennials and annuals is one of the questions about plant that can be perplexing , especially if you arenew to gardening . Here we consider yearly and perennials , highlighting how they differ and clearing up whether some of our most popular garden plants are annuals or perennials .
Perennial vs annuals: the key difference
The key departure between annual and perennials is the time it takes for them to complete their life sentence - cycles . Technically , a perennial is a plant life that can live longer than 2 years . An yearly , on the other hired hand , make out its life - cycle , from seed to flower to seed again , in one year . Annuals appeal to gardeners because a lot of them are showy plants that flower for foresighted periods and annual bedding plants are a popular manner tobring lots of color to the garden all summertime . But perennials have the great advantage of coming back twelvemonth after twelvemonth .
Typical perennial that we grow in our garden includedahlias , geraniums , thalictrums , and rudbeckia . Typical garden yearbook include nigella , calendula , and papaver ( poppy ) .
What Are Annuals?
Annual plants pullulate from seed , grow and matured , flower and arrange source all within a year . In fact they usually do all of that within the grow season , which is some places can be no more than a few months .
Ultimately , the goal of all plants ( indeed all living thing ) is to procreate , in club to pass on their familial visibility to another generation .
For yearly plants , this means setting germ – and to do that they have to bloom . This leaning to flower , and in many case , to flower profusely , is why , as gardeners , we take the trouble to grow yearbook , such as Nasturtiumsfrom seeds each year .
Annual Nigella damascena – Love-in-a-mist
We can prolong flowering bydeadheadingour annual . This mean removing the spend flowers before the plants put seed . By doing this the plant life is stimulated to produce more flush in its seeking to farm its seeds .
annual can therefore blossom for long periods with the right care . As I write this it is the end of October and I can look out into my garden and seeannual Petunia , and genus Nasturtium still flowering . These were diminutive seedlings in April – and this is Scotland , not known for its all-encompassing grow season .
There are two chief types of annuals – half hardy annuals and hardy annual .
Annual Nigella damascena – Love-in-a-mist
Half-hardy Annuals
Half - hardy yearly are tender plant and can not withstand frost . But they are also unable to grow well in coldtemperatures(below 5 ° C ) . You therefore need sow half - hardy yearly in rime free environs and should not establish them out until the last frost has passed . They ’ll perform during the summer but will be bolt down by the first frosts of autumn .
Examples of half - hardy annuals are : Tagetespatula(french marigolds),Nicotiana affinis(tobacco industrial plant ) andCosmos bipinnatus(cosmos ) .
Hardy Annuals
Hardyannuals can tolerate frigid and Robert Lee Frost , so you’re able to sow them alfresco in early Spring . They will pullulate as soon as the soils is warm enough . Some , such as sweet pea and block - me - nots , can be sow in autumn and will evolve and spend wintertime as small plants .
Examples ofhardyannuals include very pop garden plants likeHelianthus annus(Sunflowers),Tropaeolum majus(nasturtiums),Nigella Damascena(love - in - a - mist ) andLathyrus odoratus(sweet pea ) .
Biennials
There are some plants which complete their life wheel in a menses of 2 year . These are calledbiennials . In the summertime of the year they are sow in they and typically grow a rosette of leaf . They will then blossom in the undermentioned year , set seed to start the process over again , and then choke off . Dianthus barbatus(sweet Williams ) and foxgloves ( Digitalis purpurea ) fall into this category .
Some plant we call back of as biennial ( and sweet Williams fall into this class ) are technically short lived perennial , but as gardener we treat them as biennials because they do not perform so well after they have flowered for the first clock time .
Ephemerals
There are even some plants , for example Senecio vulgaris ( Senecio vulgaris ) that complete more than once life story - cycle in a undivided class . These are called ephemeral .
What are perennial plants?
Although a perennial is a plant that can go for at least 2 year , most perennial go for much longer that that .
Tree and shrubsfall into the 2 yr addition category , and these usually categorised as woody perennials . Sometimesbulbsare excluded from the perennial class , but a lot of bulbs will return year on class , so I more often than not think of them as perennial works .
Just like annuals , recurrent plant can multiply by setting seed , but they can also reproduce vegetatively .
Typically this is done by their roots ( peculiarly specialised types of ascendant like rhizomes and stolons ) spread underground . It means that theplant can extend itself out into the grease around it and survive if partsof the original plant are removed or damaged .
As gardeners we take vantage of these substance of vegetational reproduction , for example by carve up perennial of taking root cuttings , as a room to increase our stocks of desirable plants .
Herbaceous perennials
Herbaceous perennial die down in autumn and lie dormant as a ‘ theme gillyflower ’ in the garden dirt over wintertime . They then re - grow in Spring . In fact , one of the great joys ofgardening is the good deal of my herbaceous perennialsbreaking the surface with their new light-green shoots in march or April . This , for me , is the first sign of summer to get . Typical herbaceous perennials are delphiniums , lupins and sedum .
Evergreen perennials
evergreen plant perennial thrive from year to year but their foliage does not cash in one’s chips down over the wintertime point . Examples include hellebore , genus Heuchera , iris or bergena . The flavour of evergreen perennials is improve by trimming off the old and damaged leaves in Spring .
Hardy perennials
For those of us who garden in frost prostrate realm , most of the plant that we think of as perennials are hardy perennials . They can be left in thegarden all yearround and only lifted if we require to move or split them .
Tender perennials
These are the plants that can live on twelvemonth after year , but only if they are not exposed to frost . Many types of fuschia , Pelargonium , and canna settle into this category .
FAQs
1. Are begonia annuals or perennials?
There is a huge identification number of species of begonia and 100 of cultivars . Among these mintage are herbaceous perennials , climber , evergreen shrubs and succulents . The authoritative level to note is that Begonias are native to tropic and sub - tropical regions . So the repeated begonias have to be treat as annuals in frost prone region or brought in under heated up glass in winter .
2. Are tulips annuals or perennials?
to begin with , tulipswere all perennial that re - grow each year . However , after age of grouchy - gentility to create more color sport , not all varieties playact as perennial . Instead , most tulip bulb need to be planted afresh each year . The exclusion is the species tulips , which have not been cross - bred . These will come back to flower year after year .
3. Chrysanthemums – Are mums perennials or annuals?
Chrysanthemums are the trademark fall / fall prime with their beautiful , centre - enchant colours . Fundamentally , Chrysanthemums are perennials . Many species are dauntless , but some , typically in the florist chrysanthemum pigeonholing will not permit rime and will necessitate to be lift and brought into a het greenhouse of conservatory for winter .
4. Are Zinnias annuals or perennials?
Some specie of Zinnia are annuals , some are perennials and some are even shrubs . Annual Zinnias includeZinnia elegans . All Zinnias are tender , so even the perennial are commonly grown as annuals in Robert Lee Frost prone regions .
5. Are pansies perennials?
Garden Pansies ( Violas ) are biennials or curtly - lived perennial .
See also , this berth on whether geraniums are annuals or perennials .
Final thoughts: the difference between annuals and perennials
The key dispute between annuals and perennial is life cycles/second . Annuals know for one growing season only , whilst perennials be for two eld or more .
This dispute also has a presence on how wepropagatethe different categories of plants . Annuals are ordinarily grown from seeds , although it is possible to take cuttings from annuals . Perennials can usually be reproduced vegetatively , for example by division or by stem or rootage cutting , as well as being grown from ejaculate .
Martin Cole has been an devouring industrial plant fan and gardener for more than 20 years and loves to talk and pen about gardening . In 2006 he was a finalist in the BBC Gardener of the Year contest . He is a member of the National dahlia Society .
He previously lived in London and Sydney , Australia , where he take a sheepskin course in Horticultural studies and is now base in North Berwick in Scotland . He base GardeningStepbyStep.com in 2012 . The site is aim at everybody who know plants or has been prick by the gardening bug and need to fuck more .
garden Step by Step has beencited by Thompson and Morgan , the UK ’s largest mail order plant retailer , as a website that publishes expert gardening content .
Annual Nigella damascena – Love-in-a-mist
Hardy annual: Tropaeolum majus(nasturtiums)
Half-hardy Annual: Tagetes patula (french marigolds)
Hardy annual: Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea)
Sweet William (Dianthus) – often treated as a biennial
Delphiniums – herbaceous (and hardy) perennials
Evergreen perennial – Heuchera
