How To Use Biennials & Perennials In Landscaping Your Garden

  Biennials

Biennials are generally very beautiful plants, with most
attractive flowers. They are somewhat more trouble for the
gardener, since they keep growing during their first year and do
not bloom until the second. Their great advantage is that their
seeding stage produces new plants which will bloom again two
years later, making it unnecessary to plant additional seeds.

The biennials are usually plant ed in early summer and
transplanted to good soil when they are large enough to handle.
It is a good idea to pot them at this time, particularly in areas
where plants cannot be left outdoors all winter. In some cases,
they can be transplanted to a coldframe, and then placed in the
flower bed the following spring. The requirements of careful soil
preparation apply to biennials as well as annuals.

After planting, if you want a continuous new growth of plants, it
is best not to weed and cultivate too assiduously. If a really
fastidious biennial patch is planted, it will be necessary to
replace the plants with new ones each year.

Perennials

Perennials are the basic flowers of any garden. Each year they
die and renew themselves for the next growing season.

They are long-lived and last for many seasons. Perennials are
also, historically, among our oldest plants. They have been
cultivated for centuries and often, as a result of breeding and
crossbreeding, bear no resemblance to their wild forebears. In
some of the perennials, the blossoms have become so specialized
through centuries of cultivation that they no longer grow 'seeds.

Other perennials are continually being developed by amateur
botanists and gardeners. As a result of this cultivation and
inbreeding, perennials as a rule are not as hardy as other
varieties. Another disadvantage is the tendency of certain
perennials to die down after flowering, thereby leaving gaps in
the garden.

There are a number of ways to solve the problems of
short-flowering periods and the resultant unsightly spaces. One
way is to intersperse perennials with annuals and other bulbs and
flowering plants whose bloom occurs either later or earlier than
that of the perennials. Some perennials are easy to transplant:
chrysanthemums, for example, can be moved from one place to
another with no noticeable effect on their vigor.

This is another way to keep color and bloom throughout the
growing season. A garden of perennials, either by themselves or
mixed with annuals and other bulbs, should be placed along a
path, or as a border, with a background of trees, shrubs, a wall
or fence.

The background shows the brilliant coloring to best advantage.
Some varieties can flourish in the shade, such as anemone, lily
of the valley, day lilies, sweet pea, primrose, hollyhock,
harebell and peonies, but these flowers must be chosen carefully
and faced so that some sun reaches them every day.

About the Author

Paul Curran is CEO of Cuzcom Internet Publishing Group and
webmaster at Trees-and-Bushes.com, providing access to their
nursery supplier of a range of quality plants, trees, bushes,
shrubs, seeds and garden products. Visit their site now to
find a great selection of flowers for your garden

 Paul Curran

More Articles 

Take the Bite Out of Mosquitoes this Summer - Judy Leiser
Mosquitoes have always been pesty visitors when it comes to summer enjoyment, but because of the West Nile virus, it has become critical that we do whatever we can to reduce the number of mosquitoes paying visits to our yards. Paradox...

Plan Before The Plan: Carrying Out Your Decking Projects - Rob Jones
Learn about the basic stages in preparing and executing a successful cedar decking project. A cedar deck offers all kinds of aesthetic and practical benefits to a property. It also adds value to a property as a whole. Making sure that all of the...

Crocuses - Frank Sousa
A crocus is a well loved perennial flower that grows that grows to be 3 to 6 inches tall with yellow, purple, lavender and white cup shaped blooms. A member of the iris family, the crocus is a hardy plant that commonly blooms in the spring, with...

Wow! Outdoor Tiles ~ Any Image, Any Size - Alicia Tapp
Something amazing is happening in the world of ceramic tiles—Outdoor tile murals-------A new and exciting way to have a dramatic focal point outdoors on the floor or walls. Imagine a dining room far from the kitchen heat, a reading nook with...

A Garden Pond With Goldfish - William Berg
Goldfish ponds are a beautiful addition to any garden and a stunning focal point. Goldfish ponds have been admired in Asia for centuries, especially in China and Japan. Today, you will find goldfish ponds all over the world, including Europe and...

Choosing the Right Garden Furniture - Johann Erickson
Chinese oak is a very dense, and fine-grained hardwood, with a heart that is a lighter shade of brown, lending those sections a pinkish tone that is reminiscent of Western Red Cedar. Tannic acid is a natural substance in the Chinese Oak, which acts...

Why Air Purifiers Are All The Rage - Frank Hague
Air Purifiers Air Purifiers are all the rage now, everybody has them and everybody sells them. There are Ionic Air Purifiers, regular filter Purifiers and HEPA filter purifiers. the Journal of the American Medical Association now suggests that...

Cabanas Dress Up the Patio - Angela Oliver
Modern design has made way for some beautiful additions for any outdoor living space. If you spend lots of time entertaining outdoors, a cabana is a wonderful idea. Cabanas have many elements that make them extremely convenient and sheik when...

Introduction to bonsai tree growing: an overview - Cristina Diaz Garcia
The art of growing bonsais is an ancient oriental tradition, in which bonsai means "tray gardening". There are traces of bonsais (miniature trees or bushes) in Egypt, Japan and China, and it was considered that the miniature tree would have...

Use Outdoor Rugs To Decorate Your Outdoor Space - John Murray
If you are looking to add a little comfort to your outdoor space and incorporate it into your living space you have plenty of options. Your very lucky if you have some outside space to call your own. Why not use outdoor rugs to decorate your...

What does it take to design and build your own fire pit? - Nicole Martins
There are many alternatives to creating a fire pit other than buying a firepit model that is ready-made and requires some simple assembly. If you are a do-it-yourselfer looking to design and build your own fire pit you don't need a fancy set of...

Hot Tub Problems - Pex
A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, hydrotherapy, reading, or meditation. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are frequently located outdoors, although they may be...