The Flower Garden: Annuals or Perennials?

One of the basic issues when planting a flower garden is whether to choose annuals or perennials. Annuals are plants that only come up for one season, and then need to be re-grown. Perennials, on the other hand, continue to grow year after year. There are also bi-annual plants, which are those that grow and/or flower in their second year.

Perennials

There are many benefits to having perennials in the garden. They take less work in the long run. Once established, they return each growing season.

The drawback of perennials is that most of them have a short blooming period. There are some exceptions, such as roses and heliopsis, however plants such as clematis, Asian lilies and delphinium, for example, will only bloom for two to three weeks before calling it quits for the season. Bleeding heart, another perennial, blooms in the cooler months of spring and then disappears in the summer.

Annuals

Annuals definitely comprise a larger variety of flowers. Annuals need to be germinated and re-planted each year. Some do reseed themselves, but they are in the minority. Although they require a yearly effort, annuals have the advantage of a long blooming time. Some begin to flower in June and go all season. Others go from July until frost. Unlike perennials, annuals have the capacity to produce new buds throughout the summer, so that they provide a continuous prism of color.

Examples of annuals include petunias, snapdragons, phlox, dianthus, lavatera and most morning glories, to name a few.

The Best Choice

For the gardener with a busy schedule who has a minimal amount of time to devote to the flower beds, perennials may be the best choice. They will definitely liven up the yard without a great amount of effort.

It is important to be aware that many perennials will continue to expand both in width and height each year, therefore careful planning should be done in advance in terms of making sure that they will have the needed space both above and below the soil. In order to have some color in the garden all season long, choose perennials that have different bloom times.

For the gardener who wants constant color (and a lot of it!) mixing up annuals and perennials is a good way to go. That way there will be some mainstays in the garden – old friends that make yearly reappearances – as well as flowers that will ensure that the beds are covered in blooms throughout the growing period.

Whether annual, perennial, or both, flowers make a spectacular addition to any yard.