In article , Rick McGreal
writes
Kay Easton wrote in
:

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.

Thats pretty much what my mum said!

Ah - she is a gardener!
To a botanist, an annual is one that grows from seed, flowers, sets seed
and dies all in one year in its native habitat. A biennial grows the
first year, flowers the second year, then dies (like parsley, swiss
chard)
A perennial keeps going. It may flower in its first year, or from the
second year onwards, or later.


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.

Aw.....Its sounds so romantic!
Going out in a blaze of glory!
Or blaze of colour if most pictures of annuals seem to suggest!

An interesting comment. Blaze of colour suggest pollination by bees.
First thought was - are most annuals bee-pollinated? - but then realised
the answer is 'no' - for example - there are many annual grasses, and
they're wind pollinated, and things like night-scented stock are moth-
pollinated and attract by scent and colours that show in the half light.
So the bright colours of many annuals go back to year earlier comment of
'why bother?' - if you are going to bother with growing something which
is only going to be around for a year, you want it to be worth the
effort, so you'll concentrate on the showy things like poppies,
eschscholtzia, nasturtium...

But one generalisation about annuals - since they are using a seed based
survival strategy, they are going to put a lot of effort into flowers,
so whether it's scent, abundant pollen, or a good show to attract bees
that they're going for, I'd guess that annuals probably give you a good
flower:leaf ratio for your money.
--
Kay Easton

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