Spring is officially here at Garden Heights Nursery! As plant and plant care experts, there are some questions that we commonly get from customers, one of the majors ones being, "What is the difference between perennial and annual plants?" Today, we'll answer that very questions here, on our gardening blog.
So, what's the difference?
Perennial plants regrow every spring, while annual plants live for only one growing season, then die off. Perennials generally have a shorter blooming period compared to annuals, so it's common for gardeners to use a combination of both plants in their yard. We're sharing a little bit about both types of plants below.
Perennial Plants
Perennials are plants that can live for three or more growing seasons (oftentimes, especially in St. Louis, bulbs must be planted in autumn to produce spring-blooming plants). Garden Heights Nursery carries a wide variety of container perennials grown for sun and shade. Daylilies, peonies and hellebores are common perennial plants. Garden Heights Nursery is proud to carry a variety of native perennial plants that are beneficial to our local eco-system, providing habitat to butterflies, birds and bees!
Annual Plants
While annuals live for only one season, they tend to have a long bloom season. They are usually bright and showy, used by gardeners to add burst of bright color to their flower beds and container gardens. Popular annuals include petunia, vinca and lantana. Garden Heights Nursery carries a vast variety of both full sun and shade annual plants in containers. Check out our selection this spring!
and, Biennials!
You may have heard the term biennial in describing a plant and wondered what it meant. Biennials are plants that grow for two seasons, yet don't bloom until the second year. Biennials are interesting plants because after their second season, they will drop seeds and in two years, your garden will have blooms from a new generation! Gardeners have come up with schedule to stagger biennials in order to experience blooms every year. It just takes a bit of planning and patience to have annual blooms of biennials in your own garden.
Have more questions about plants? Let us know! Our knowledgeable team is happy to answer any of your gardening questions.
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