Flower Type Basics for Beginning Gardeners
Annuals, Perennials, Biennials and the Garden Zone
Aug 18, 2009
The language of flower types is very basic information for new gardeners, but the gardener doesn't have to be a botanist to understand it. Begin by learning the difference between an annual and a perennial and the rest will follow over time.
What is an Annual?
An annual is a plant that needs to be planted each spring. For most annuals, the plant doesn't pop back after a winter of dormancy. It dies at the end of the first growing season.
However, not all annuals die in the fall. Some do pop back and others self-seed, which means the gardener may have plants popping up in unexpected places the following season or later in the first season.
Annuals are known as bedding plants because they fill in the garden's blank spaces for instant color. They are also used to fill urns, pots and hanging baskets. Some old favorites for gardeners include petunias, stocks, larkspur and sweet peas.
Annuals will generally grow in most gardening zones, but seed germination is dependent on the last expected spring frost in any particular area. If buying these bedding plants from nurseries, it's advisable not to plant out until after the last expected frost.
What is a Perennial?
Perennials return year after year once planted. Most perennials don't flower the first season, but instead, pour their energies into establishing a good root system. To confuse things, some perennials do flower in their first season – Delphiniums for instance.
Plants are somewhat of a mystery and often behave differently for different gardeners. Some old-fashioned perennial favorites include Delphiniums, Shasta daisies, asters and Bellflowers. All perennials listed above are hardy to zone 3 (see gardening zone information below.).
What is a Biennials?
Biennials like the hollyhocks, for example, spend their first season concentrating on their root systems. They flower the next summer and end their life by the second autumn.
This depends largely on the garden's location. In some gardens, hollyhocks do flower year after year or they self-seed.
The Garden Zone
The flowers the gardener chooses for her garden should be largely based on her location. In garden speak, a location is a garden zone. Every garden zone is allotted a number. Those numbers represent the climate of each region. But for the most part, above the equator, the further north the garden, the lower the garden zone number, which greatly reduces the variety of plants the gardener will be able to grow in her gardening zone
However, within each zone, there are micro-climates or micro-systems. Perhaps the garden is protected from strong winds. Large cities may have a slightly higher garden zone than neighboring towns and villages. Cities give off a great deal of heat reflected from the concrete.
There are many elements than can turn a zone 5 garden into a zone 6. A general search on the internet for "garden zone map" will bring up many pages. A garden should learn her garden zone, especially if ordering plants, bulbs or seeds via the mail.
Most garden catalogs will include the lowest zone number where the plant will grow. Another way to learn if the plant will grow in the gardeners area is by taking a walk around her neighborhood. If her neighbors can grow a particular plant, so can she.
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