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Perennials are what gardeners call the backbone of the garden. Weird that gardens are suppose to have backbones... The great thing about perennials is that they keep coming back, year after year, getting bigger and better - kind of like the nieces and nephews you see once a year at Thanksgiving or Christmas. The cool thing about perennials - you only need to water them and they are so grateful. Unlike your nieces and nephews at Christmas. And it's amazing to see the plants come up in the spring, all of them pretty much in the same few weeks. I always feel like I'm seeing my old friends come to stay for the next 6 months and they never wear out their welcome :). The only downside is that they tend to look a little "weedy". All of you from the 60's and 70's - not that kind of weedy. I've included a picture, 1k words and all that. |
Ladies and Gentlemen ... |
In this corner, we have the darling of the hard core gardener, the plant that keeps on coming back, year after year, to show us their stuff - Perennials! |
And in the other corner, we have the color guard of the garden - with show stopping hues and pigments that give us everything they've got for just one season - Annuals! |
Also, you have to wait to get color on perennials unless you are very good at timing your plants-in-bloom in your garden. Since this is for you, the nubie gardener, I have the answer to your color problem. Annuals - Ta Da! |
Annuals are pretty much all of the color you see when you walk into Lowes or Home Depot. I love to walk in and see all of the different colors all sitting out - pretty amazing how in nature, nothing clashes. Please do not try this concept on yourself while dressing. Color coordinate responsibly. I use annuals for containers - gotta love container planting. Keeps the economy going, just trying to buy the right container! While the perennials are figuring out when they plan to make their entrance, fill in with annuals. You can get some very mature looking plants in the spring (thank you nursery person for making this happen). Look for listings of sun worshiping flowers (no sunblock required), part sun flowers, shade and deep shade. Also broken down into perennials and annuals. See you there! |
Questions? Comments? I live here: petals@mortarandpetals.com |