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Perennials And Annuals

Perennials

A perennial plant is one that comes back year after year.
An annual plant is one that must be planted every year.

About 99% of the plants that I enjoy in my garden each spring and summer are perennial plants. I love the annual varieties but our growing season in Indiana is a short one and the annuals just don't seem to reach their full beauty before they are ready to end their life span with the first frost of fall.

Perennial plants make my dollar investment a very worthwhile one. They come back year after year and need to be divided every 2nd or 3rd year. So, when I buy one plant I can be assured of having several in about 2 years. When I started to plan my monster project of landscaping our bare acre I took this in to consideration-as plants can be an expensive investment.

Perennials are just about indestructible. I will give you some information about them in synopsis form:

• Buying plants: I more often than not bought my plants at the end of the season sales. Sometimes the plants looked about dead and I bought many for 10 - 50 cents. I just brought them home, cut back at least half of the growth, planted and watered them. They always seem to revive and thrive! Each year I enjoy a 50 cent Azalea that I did not think would ever make it.
• Dividing plants: Perennials must divided every couple of years to thrive. The roots get compact and tangled and they need breathing and growing room. They can be divided one of two ways:
• Dig up the plant and gently work the root balls loose while
  pulling the plant in 2-4 sections…depending on the size of
  the plant.
• My way --After I dig it up I take a butcher's knife and
  cut the plant in to pieces. (My husband says that I take out
  my frustrations this way.
• If dividing seedums remember that every leaf or broken
  stem will become a plant if you plant it!

Either method is going to destroy some of the root system but the plants will survive and thrive. If the plants are very tall when divided it is a good idea to cut the tops back ½ to 1/3 of their growth. This will help them get over the shock you have just put
them through and will cause them to get nice and bushy as they grow.

Annuals

Annuals live for one growing season and are easy instant color. Annuals can grow from seed to flower in a very short time. They make a wonderful addition to any garden in beds by themselves or added to a perennial bed because they produce color all summer long.

Growing annuals is easy...basically they can be planted and forgotten. They rarely need more than a drink of water and an occasional application of fertilizer to keep them blooming. And there are annual plants for every kind of soil and light conditions.

CUT THEM BACK---
This is painful for the gardener...no one likes to do this, especially me, but the best thing that can be done for an annual plant is to cut it back by 1/2 when you take the pretty blooming plant from it's nice little tray and plant it in your yard. This takes the energy it would use to bloom and puts it to use to develop a strong root system. The plants will be much fuller and healthier all summer long... producing far more blooms. If they get 'leggy' during the summer, again cut them back by 1/3 to 1/2 and watch them recuperate and bloom strongly until fall!

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