Garden Plant Basics
What is an 'annual' compared to a 'perennial'?
An annual is a plant that will complete its life cycle in one season. It normally grows, flowers and sets seeds, whereas a perennial, if everything is done properly, will live year after year.
What is an 'evergreen'?
An evergreen is a plant that holds its leaves or needles throughout the season into the winter. There are even perennials that are evergreen, like some of the hellebores or legend roses, or rhododendrons which are broad leaf evergreens. Also, we have many conifers like the pines and the spruce which are evergreens.
What is a 'deciduous' plant?
A deciduous plant is a plant that loses it's leaves through the winter. A good example that people might think of would be a forsythia. It's a very common shrub, it loses it's leaves over winter, and that would be a good example of a deciduous shrub.
What is a 'tree' compared to a 'shrub'?
A tree is a woody plant and it has a single stem. It normally has a distinct canopy. Maples are a good example of a tree. A shrub also is a woody plant with multiple stems and are usually branching from the ground to create what we would consider your typical bush-looking type plant. An azalea would be an example of a shrub.
What is 'groundcover'?
Groundcover can really apply to any type of plant that is used in mass and covers ground. So, it doesn't always have to be a low growing plant, although that's what we typically think of. We might think of English Ivy or Sweet Woodruff as a groundcover. But actually we can use a variety of plants, even Junipers, as groundcovers. Or we can use Day Lillies if we're using them in mass, and use them as a groundcover.
What is a 'flower' or 'blossom'?
A flower or blossom is basically the reproductive structure of an angiosperm or a flowering plant. They're a variety of the male and female parts usually contained in the flower. Also, the seed will ripen at the base or in the carpel of the flower.
What is 'bloom time'?
Bloom time usually refers to the flowering period of a plant. Many perennials often have a bloom time of only two weeks, so we often look to the bloom time when we're trying to design a garden and have an extension of bloom. We might look and say, "this flower blooms for two weeks in June", and we bring something else in that flowers at the same time that might flower clear into July.
What is a 'hardy' plant?
A hardy plant is a plant that lives throughout the entire year, and hopefully comes back year after year. It can be a woody plant, and it can be herbaceous or perennial. Those would be considered hardy. Annuals are not hardy. Hardiness is often determined by the climate, the hardiness zone, if you will, that we live in, as well as sometimes the moisture level. The amount of heat through the summer will also affect how hardy a plant is in an area.
What is a 'low-maintenance' plant?
A low-maintenance plant would be a plant that does not require frequent dead-heading to look it's best, does not require staking, frequent division, should not be invasive, and does not require heavy fertilizing to maintain a good habit. Some examples would be joe-pye weed, the cult of our gateway as an example, which is a very dynamic low-maintenance plant. Another wonderful one is Angelicas. My favorite is the Angelica Gigas, which is a large architectural plant that is low-maintenance and very hearty.
What is a 'high-maintenance' plant?
A high maintenance plant would be a plant that requires frequent division to look its best, it might require a daily deadheading. It can be extremely invasive or aggressive. It could also require heavy fertilizing, in fact maybe fertilizing through the spring and into the summer to look its best.