Types of Gardening Flowers

Types of Gardening Flowers

Flowers grow in virtually every climate throughout the world including desert and tundra regions. These plants are commonly categorized according to their life cycles; annual flowers are short, while some perennial flowers last for years. In some cases, the classification of blooms depends upon if they develop in a place with mild temperatures or a place that faces a cold winter. A plant that is perennial in the warmest states may be grown as an annual in the remainder of the country.

Annual Flowers

Annual flowers finish their life cycle growing of seed to bloom to producing seed in one growing season. Several annuals reseed themselves, while some have to be replanted every year. This makes changing the look of the flower bed easy every year. 1 popular variety of garden annual is the marigold (Tagetes hybrids), which creates brightly coloured summer blooms on stems reaching 6 to 36 inches tall depending on the variety. Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) is another common variety of garden annual, which creates a bushy mound of glossy green leaves and red, pink, white, orange or bicolor blossoms in the summer. Several of the additional flower garden annuals are gloriosa daisies (Rudbeckia hirta), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida), larkspur (Consolida ambigua), petunias (Petunia x hybrida) and zinnias (Zinnia elegans).

Biennial Flowers

Biennial flowers comprise plants such as foxglove (Digitalis spp.) That grows best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) in USDA zones 3 through 9 and Canterbury bells (Campanula medium) in USDA zones 5 through 8. These plants require two years to complete their life cycles. In the initial year, the plants typically produce little rosettes of leaves near the ground. The flowers only appear in the next year, followed by seed development. Many biennials behave as annuals when they’re purchased as bedding plants, because the growth for the initial year was performed in the nursery greenhouse, and they’re second plants.

Perennial Flowers

Perennials encompass a sizable group of plants that includes shrubs and trees. This kind of flower continues to grow from 1 year to the next. During the colder months, the above-ground stems and blossoms of many perennial flowers die back to the ground. All these perennials grow back the next spring in the surviving underground roots. Some perennial flowers that grow well in the garden are Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria “Casablanca”) in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 through 11, Michaelmas daisy (Aster dumosus) in USDA zones 4 through 8, “Semaphore” canna lily (Canna “Semaphore”) in USDA zones 8 through 11 and hardy garden mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) in USDA zones 5 through 9. Many perennials do not flower the exact same year that they’re planted by seed, but they blossom for several decades afterwards.

Evergreen Perennials

The other type of perennial is the evergreen perennial. These are flowers that die back in the colder months, but their leaves develop year-round. This gives the garden shade and texture. The low-growing evergreens work well as ground covers, protecting the soil. Both blue star blooms (Amsonia x “Blue Ice”) along with “Neon Star” maiden pink (Dianthus x “Neon Star”), that develop well in USDA zones 5 through 9, achieve under a foot tall and also create visually attractive ground covers. Taller evergreen flowers comprise Sunny “Dark Florence” African daisy (Osteospermum ecklonis Sunny “Dark Florence”) and also “Gartenmeister” fuchsia (Fuchsia “Gartenmeister Bonstedt”). Both these plants develop as evergreen perennials in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 through 11; they can be grown as annuals in colder climates.

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