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Perennials Should Have Staying Power

Common daylily is a popular perennial.

The definition of perennial is vague. Technically, it refers to anything that persists for any significant time. This should include trees, shrubbery and vines. Horticulturally, though, it refers to persistent species that lack any woody parts. Even this definition is vague, as it includes ferns, palms, yuccas and succulents. Perennials certainly are a diverse group.

Annuals are not perennials, since they finish their respective life cycles within one year. However, most annuals have potential to perform as perennials. They merely do not get opportunities to do so as other annuals become more seasonal. Biennials complete their life cycles within two years, so also do not qualify. Persistent bulbs might qualify, though.

Canna, for example, grows from thick and fleshy rhizomes that qualify as summer bulbs. Once established they are resiliently persistent. They proliferate and can migrate as they do so. Calla and various ginger do the same. All are easy to propagate by division while more or less dormant. They defoliate where winters are colder, but regenerate for spring.

Lily of the Nile is among the most popular and common perennials. It is very resilient and persistent. It does not need much attention or water, and is very easy to propagate. Even without bloom, its evergreen foliage is appealing. African iris, or fortnight lily, is probably the second most common perennial. It requires a bit more grooming than lily of the Nile.

New Zealand flax is a bigger perennial, although some cultivars are relatively compact. It is more foliar than floral, since its thin floral stalks are not as striking as its bold foliage. Daylily is among the more floriferous perennials, with bright yellow, orange or red bloom. Beard tongue is another efflorescent perennial, but with white, pink, red or purple bloom.

These are merely a few examples of the most locally popular and practical of perennials. This list should also include hosta, coral bell, yarrow, Shasta daisy and various salvias. It is impossible to mention all of the perennials that perform well here. Although most are evergreen, some are deciduous. Most need irrigation while some can actually naturalize.

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Zinnia

Zinnias are excellent as cut flowers.

Extensive breeding complicates the identity of modern garden zinnias. Although they are products of several species, most identify simply as Zinnia elegans. They exhibit a broad range of floral color and form. Short varieties grow only a few inches tall. Large varieties grow as tall as two and a half feet. They are warm season annuals that bloom until frost.

The two to four inch wide flowers bloom in phases as long as the weather is warm. Their floral color can be yellow, orange, red, purple, pink, salmon, chartreuse or bronze. Some varieties have striped or freckled flowers. Some resemble daisies, with big petals around prominent centers. Pom-pom types produce puffier flowers with nearly obscured centers.

Zinnias enjoy good exposure and rich soil. The paired and very slightly raspy leaves can be susceptible to powdery mildew. Removal of deteriorating flowers promotes continual bloom. However, a few can remain to produce seed for the following season. Their seed should be sown as soon as possible after the last frost. Zinnias are excellent cut flowers, and can last for a week or even two.

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Warm Season Vegetables Are Next

Summer squash grows easiest from seed.

Warm season annuals know what time it is. Although it is still too early for many to move directly into gardens, a few already are. A few can start from seed, either in greenhouses or directly in their gardens. Eventually, as the weather warms, they all can live outside for the summer. Warm season vegetables, or summer vegetables, are in the same situation.

After all, almost all warm season vegetables perform as annuals. The weather is still too cool for seedlings to go out into their gardens. However, it is time to start some vegetable plants from seed. Some should start inside or in a greenhouse. Others might start directly in their gardens. The weather should be warm enough for them by the time they develop.

Seed for most root vegetables can go directly into their gardens now. Root vegetables do not recover from transplanting easily, so prefer direct sowing. Transplanted seedlings are susceptible to root disfigurement. Corn, squash and beans prefer direct sowing also, but should wait for warmer weather. Seedlings grow faster than the weather becomes warm.

Tomato and pepper plants prefer to go into the garden later as seedlings or small plants. Such small plants will become available from nurseries as they become more seasonal. Alternatively, they can start to grow from seed inside or in a greenhouse now. Their fresh seedlings should be ready for their garden as the weather warms. Scheduling is crucial.

The advantages to seed are that it is less expensive and more diverse than small plants. Packets of seed cost about as much as six packs of small plants, but contain many seed. Nurseries stock only a few varieties of each type of vegetable plant. However, they stock a few more varieties of seed for the same type of vegetables. Many are available online.

Cucumber, eggplant and melon can grow either from small plants or directly sown seed. A single small plant may be more practical for melon because only one plant is sufficient. However, if several cucumber plants are preferable, seed may be more practical. If seed are preferable, they can start soon. Small plants might wait a bit longer after the last frost.

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Anemone

Anemone is also known as windflower.

This is not a typical warm season annual. Nor is it a typical cool season annual. Actually, there really is nothing typical about Anemone, Anemone coronaria. It is a spring bulb that is really a tuber that goes into the ground in autumn. Yet, it is more available blooming in four inch pots in spring. It functions as a spring annual because it blooms as winter ends.

Anemone are quite diminutive. Basal rosettes of only a few deeply lobed leaves are less than eight inches tall. Flowers of taller sorts stand above their foliage, but less than a foot high. They can bloom between March and May. Nursery stock blooms earlier than plants that grow from bulbs in a garden. Growth eventually slows as weather warms in summer.

Floral color ranges through red, white, blue, pink and purple. Flowers mostly have black centers. White flowers may have green centers. Some varieties bloom with semi-double or double flowers, or flowers with two colors. Most flowers are about three inches wide or slightly wider. Anemones are good cut flowers; but cutting deprives the garden of bloom.

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Warm Season Annuals Are Next

Cool season annuals serve their purpose.

Cool season annuals will probably finish sooner than they typically do this season. They do not enjoy the unseasonably but pleasantly warm and dry weather. It accelerates their brief life cycles. Fortunately, warm season annuals, or summer annuals, will be happy to replace them. They are the bedding plants that provide seasonal color until next autumn.

It is still too early for some types of warm season annuals. Several prefer to wait for more sustained warm weather with warmer nights. Petunia and sunflowers can wait until April or even May. This is only the beginning of the season, when the process of replacement begins. Some cool season annuals will not require replacement until petunias are ready.

For those who grow warm season annuals from seed, the season began notably earlier. Some seed starts within a greenhouse, two or three months prior to planting in a garden. For example, seed for petunias that go into the garden in April should be started already. Some annuals, such as nasturtium, should grow from seed sown directly into the garden.

Otherwise, the most popular warm season annuals begin in cell packs. Lobelia, alyssum and wax begonia are already available. Petunia and impatiens will become available as the season progresses. Many warm season annuals are available but more expensive in four inch pots. For substantial areas of bedding, cell pack annuals cover more uniformly.

Many warm season annuals are actually perennials that deteriorate through winter. Wax begonia can actually survive through winter to regenerate about now. Some cool season annuals can similarly survive through summer. There is no need, for example, to remove English primrose from mixed plantings. They can bloom late, and regenerate for autumn.

The same marigold that were popular for autumn are popular again for the end of winter. Ageratum may also be available already. Zinnia and annual salvias should be available a bit later in the season. So should cosmos and celosia. Bedding dahlia and calibrachoa may become available later, but in four inch pots. Coleus is a foliar warm season annual. Gomphrena and annual vinca have become uncommon. Ranunculus and anemone can perform as annuals.

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Cool Season Vegetables Begin Now

Kale is productive until spring warmth.

Warm season vegetables that started late last winter will be finishing their seasons soon. Cool season vegetables, or winter vegetables, should begin to replace them. This might sound familiar as the same scenario for warm and cool season annuals. After all, almost all vegetable plants are either annuals or biennials. Few perform for more than a season.

Just like annual bedding plants, different vegetable plants perform to different schedules. Some warm season vegetables begin to deteriorate as warm weather ends. Others may continue to produce until frost. Some cool season vegetables need an early start. Others can start late and grow through cool winter weather. Gardens need not transition quickly.

Besides, different phases of some types of vegetables begin and finish at different times. Although late phases of corn continue to grow, early phases are already done and gone. Although late phases of beet might begin months from now, early phases can begin now. Warm season vegetables, ideally, relinquish space as cool season vegetables require it.

Cool season vegetables grow slower than warm season vegetables. Also, more of them are true vegetables rather than fruit that contain seed. Many are distended roots, such as beet and carrot. Many are distended foliage, such as cabbage and chard. A few, such as broccoli and cauliflower, are distended floral bloom. Peas are actually fruiting structures.

All root vegetables should grow directly from seed. They are vulnerable to disfigurement if transplanted. Besides, they typically grow in significant quantities that are not practical for transplant. These include beet, carrot, radish, turnip and parsnip. Cucumber and pea, although conducive to transplanting, also perform better from seed. So do lettuce greens.

Heading lettuce, though, is more like cabbage and larger cool season vegetables. Since only a few are necessary, transplanting them as seedlings is practical. Besides, they are conducive to transplanting. Cell pack seedlings for cool season vegetables are available from nurseries now. Seed is always available. It can go directly into a garden or into cells for transplanting later, as summer becomes autumn, then winter.

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Cool Season Annuals Return Annually

Many warm season annuals perform late.

Warm season annuals that started late last winter should be finishing their season soon. It might seem as if they replaced their predecessors, cool season annuals, only recently. This is the nature of annual bedding plants. They perform only for their particular season. It is now about time for cool season annuals, or winter annuals, to begin another season.

There is no need to hurry, though. The several different cool season annuals operate on different schedules. Only the earliest begin as small plants now, and even they can wait. Some prefer to begin later during autumn. Cyclamen and ornamental kale can even wait until winter. Only annuals that start as seed really must do so while the weather is warm.

Besides, some warm season annuals still perform too nicely for immediate replacement. Ideally, they are only beginning to deteriorate as they relinquish their space. Sometimes, some varieties are already grungy before their replacement. This facilitates their removal without guilt. However, some warm season annuals might continue to perform until frost.

Furthermore, some annuals, both cool season and warm season, are actually perennial. They merely function as annuals because their replacement is easier than their salvage. Busy Lizzie, for example, can remain mostly dormant through winter below new pansies. As the pansies finish in spring, the older busy Lizzie can regenerate for another season.

Sweet William and various primrose are cool season annuals that are actually perennial. Both can bloom until next spring becomes too warm for them. Then, they become mostly dormant until the following autumn. Any that remained dormant through last summer can regenerate and bloom this autumn. Perhaps they take turns performing with busy Lizzie.

Pansy and viola are the most familiar and reliable of cool season annuals. Marigold and snapdragon are popular now, but only as autumn annuals. They may not perform well for winter. Wax begonias might perform almost throughout the year with grooming after frost. Stock is the most fragrant of the cool season annuals. A few short varieties are available.

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Petunia

Petunias appreciate rich soil or media.

Most popular modern petunia are hybrids of two primary species, and a few others. They classify collectively and simply as Petunia X hybrida. Although popular as warm season annuals, some can be short term perennials. They are only uncommon as such because they get shabby through winter. Yet, with a bit of trimming, they can regenerate for spring.

Petunia are impressively diverse. Their floral color range lacks merely a few colors. Also, flowers can exhibit spots, speckles, stripes, blotches, haloes or variegation. Flowers can be quite small, or as broad as four inches. Some are mildly fragrant. Some are quite frilly with double bloom. Cascading types can sprawl three feet while most are more compact.

Petunia are perhaps the most popular warm season annual. They can bloom from spring until frost, though they can get scrawny after a month or so. Trimming of lanky stems can promote more compact growth. Deadheading might promote fuller bloom for some types. Petunia enjoy sunny exposure, regular watering and rich soil. They perform well in pots. Cascading varieties are splendid for hanging pots and high planters.

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Pincushion Flower

Pincushion blooms in pastel blue, lavender pink or white.

The oddly protruding stamens of pincushion flower, Scabiosa columbaria, are ideal for bees collecting pollen. To us, they resemble pins stuck into the somewhat flat surface of the composite (daisy like) flowers. To bees, they are a flea market (or bee market) of pollen. Bees easily stroll the two inch wide flowers to peruse the merchandise on display. 

The pale lavender, blue, pink or white flowers on limber stems are good cut flowers. The grayish foliage is deeply lobed and nicely textured. Mature plants can be two feet tall and broad. Bloom begins by summer and continued until frost if fading flowers get plucked. Although perennial in mild climates, pincushion flower is more often grown as an annual.

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Wildflowers On The Wild Side

Some wildflowers bloom in shady forests.

Warm season annuals are more varied than cool season annuals for one simple reason. Spring and early summer are the best time for bloom. Afterward, there is plenty of time for seed to develop, prior to cool winter weather. Obviously, most flowers want to exploit this schedule. This includes wildflowers, particularly in regional chaparral or desert climates.

Wildflowers are in more of a rush to bloom for early spring here because summer is arid. They could be more susceptible to premature desiccation later. They last longer and can bloom later in home gardens with irrigation. Actually though, not all wildflowers bloom for early spring. Some bloom for autumn or winter. A few bloom for summer, generally briefly.

There is no explicit definition for wildflowers. Western redbud and the various ceanothus are technically native wildflowers. Yet, they grow as large shrubbery or even small trees. Most popular wildflowers are annuals. A few are biennials or perennials. Some perennial sorts must mature for more than a year before they bloom well. Some are very persistent.

Technically, wildflowers should be locally native, and observable directly within the wild. Realistically, this expectation is unrealistic. Many of the most colorful, like perennial pea, are naturalized exotic species. Most wildflower seed mixes include random species from elsewhere. Some are regionally specific, but to other regions and very different climates.

California poppy and various lupine are the most popular and familiar native wildflowers. Douglas iris, yarrow and clarkia are about as practical for cultivated home gardens. Bush poppy and monkey flower more appropriate to rustic landscapes beyond home gardens. Many wildflowers need aggressive maintenance, such as cutting back after their season.

Seed of most annual and perennial wildflowers prefers to be in a garden by late autumn. It can then settle in through cool and rainy winter weather to grow and bloom about now. With watering after the winter rainy season, several might start now to bloom for summer. Some of the more sustainable species can disperse seed for another wildflower season.