Howdy folks,
In regards to my old nemesis Mexican Heather.

An annual is a plant that goes through the life cycle, growing
seedling, vegatative maturity, reproductive maturity ( flowering,
setting seeds, post seed setting ciggerette break etc) and senescence
( I love that word, I'm not getting old I'm just enjoying senescence
), all in one season.
Perennials complete their cycle in more than two years and continue
to cycle for some time to come, on the same plant.
So, in the botanic usage we are talking genetic coding and not how
long it grows in a particular climate.


What gets confusing is that perennials if taken far afield of their
native habitat can go down after one season from either being in a
climate that is too hot or too cold. Those plants should be 'treated
horticulturally as annuals" as the popular phrase goes.

Mexican Heather has always just ticked me off.
It is a perennial that is being planted in Central Texas which is
in an area just over the line from being able to return
dependably.When I was working retail sales, if we had a warm winter
every one would buy it up like crazy because it had done so well that
winter. Of course, as they say in the commercials,' past performance
is no indicator of future performance' and the next hard winter every
one would get nailed. In addition local micro climate makes a big
difference. Proximity to heat from the house, moisture level in the
soil over the winter etc.

I think the important thing to remember is that a perennial tag on a
plant may not mean it is one that is dependable in our area. More
research is called for. And it's not just the cold, but the heat that
takes out a lot of perennials that do well up North but bake down
here. ( I'm thinking Hostas, here , you can baby them along sometimes
but you don't see the huge plantings of them that you see up north )

Actually as far as stupid questions go, I've observed that when anyone
prefaces their question with "This may be stupid, but..." The question
is usually not stupid. The real mind bending stupid questions always
seem to come with a great air of seriousness.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com