The main difference between annuals and perennials is their life span. Choosing what is right for your garden will depend on how much time you have to devote to gardening and the look of each particular species.

Annuals – as the name suggests, are a yearly plant. The life cycle of an annual from seed to flower takes place over one year. Every part of the plant dies at the end of the growing season. Seeds from these plants begin each subsequent generation. Some self-sow but others will need to be replaced by a new plant for the next season.

Perennials – are perpetual plants that keep growing over many years. These plants die back during winter and re-grow in spring. A number of perennials don’t lose their leaves, therefore retaining their attractiveness while other plants die off. Perennials can take a few seasons to establish.

Biennials – these plants take two years to complete their life cycle. The second season of growth is generally more abundant.

It seems that perennials would be easiest to plant, as they offer reward year after year to the gardener. Annuals have to be planted every year so why bother with them? The main reason would be that annuals are easily available and come in a large selection of colors and types. When they are ready to be bought they are usually in bloom so you can see what they will look like in your garden. A number of annuals will flower throughout a season if they are dead-headed regularly. New buds will form after dead blooms are removed, giving continuous color until the end of the spring or summer. Annuals are also inexpensive to purchase and will easily fill an empty spot in the flowerbed. Annuals are easy to grow and perform quickly, rather than waiting for an extended period of time for results.

Perennials are easier, in that you only have to plant them once, but have short-comings in other areas. Perennial flowers are not as brightly-colored as annuals. They tend to come in pinks, lilacs and white variations, which is fine if this is the color theme you want for your garden. Some perennials have a shorter blooming time period compared to annuals. However they provide a greater variance in height than annuals do.

When planning your garden, you may want to stick to one or the other, but most gardens have a combination of both. Annuals are wonderful placed at the front of the garden bed where their vivid colors are shown off to best effect. Using the height variations of perennial flowers and shrubs, you can make sure there is always something on show in your garden. Replacing annuals year after year will keep your garden interesting and fresh.

This was the second of 5 episodes dealing with Sucessful Gardening All Year Long.  We hope you enjoyed it and that it provided you with ideas you hadn’t thought of for your gardening all year round.

For much more information about Successful Gardening All Year, please visit our site at:

http://gardening.howto-you.com , where you will find an additional email list of ideas, as well as our book ‘Guide to Successfull Gardening All Year’

Thanx for being here!  See you in our next episode!