In article , Rick McGreal
writes
Chris Norton wrote in
:

I get all confused on this annual, biennial and perennial stuff so I`m
in the frame of mind that if it`s alive then it`ll look good at some
stage, and if it`s dead then it`s compost!

I have been tending to think the same....
Personally I thought it was very confusing...
It wasn't until my mum explained it to me...

But even now people come along with plants that break the rules....

Trouble is, gardeners and botanists use the same terms for a different
purpose. So to a gardener, an annual is one that won't survive our
winter (no matter how long it lives in its native country), a biennial
is one that you chuck after the second year, and a perennial is one that
keeps going year after year.

And I just don't see the point in an annual at all....Why have a plant for
just a few months?

Strange to say, plants don't choose their life cycle for our convenience
;-)

Annuals concentrate on massive seeding into barish ground. And since
bare ground doesn't remain so for long, there's not point in staying put
and being crowded out by thugs - you set forth lots of seed to colonise
new bare spots, and die gracefully.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm