10.09.2008

The First Thing You Need To Know...

The world of gardening is full of words that are thrown around casually, they are informative to be sure, but the assumption of common knowledge can be disconcerting to those who are just beginning what could end up as a dangers hobby for life. So, lets review a few terms. Shall we?

The Annual
annual |ˈanyoōəl|adjective• (of a plant) living for a year or less, perpetuating itself by seed :annual flowers. 


An example of an annual flower is the Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus
  I think this is a Cosmo.  Comparing it to pictures online it would seem so. 
 What do you think?  Am I right?


Another annual is the Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria) which I happened to find on my "Flower Stalking Tour" of the neighborhood as well. 

Dusty Miller
The Perennial 
perennial |pəˈrenēəl|adjectivelasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring his perennial distrust of the media.• (of a plant) living for several years tarragon is perennial. Compare with annual , biennial .

An example of a perennial is the Echinacia Sunrise.  Beautiful!  
I found this picture on Doug Green's Garden Tips

Apparently grasses are perennials, too. 
Just down the street from my parents house

The Biennial biennial |bīˈenēəl|adjectivetaking place every other year summit meetings are normally biennial.(esp. of a plantliving or lasting for two years.nouna plant that takes two years to grow from seed to fruition and die.Compare with annual , perennial .

The Iceland Poppy (Papaver Nudicaule) is a Biennial!  I think I might wait to tackle the biennial.  I really like poppies.  We are going to have a poppy week sometime.  
I found this beautiful picture at http://www.flower-pictures-online.com/icelandic-poppy.html

Yea!  We made it and now I know a little more about plants.  Here we go...

1 comment:

Rob said...

Hi Red Clover, Yes you're right about it being a Cosmos. The Cineraria you show will actually keep going year after year if left, there are some that I planted in the garden at the big house that are going in to their third winter. In general though you do treat them as an annual. Bob.