This is a bit of a silly question but, a biennial, does it die after it's
flowered or come back again like a perennial does?

Thanks.

"Janice" wrote in news:LLAJa.2335$yw5.31233@newsfep4-
glfd.server.ntli.net:

This is a bit of a silly question but, a biennial, does it die after it's
flowered or come back again like a perennial does?

The book I have been reading has this to say

--------------
Biennial
A plant that requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle.
e.g. Foxglove. Leaves are formed during the first year, flowers and seeds
the following season
--------------

So I would say it dies....
But I'm on my first year with my foxgloves....So I will have to wait and
see!

"Rick McGreal" wrote in message
...
"Janice" wrote in news:LLAJa.2335$yw5.31233@newsfep4-
glfd.server.ntli.net:

This is a bit of a silly question but, a biennial, does it die after
it's
flowered or come back again like a perennial does?

A plant that requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle.
e.g. Foxglove. Leaves are formed during the first year, flowers and seeds
the following season
--------------

So I would say it dies....
But I'm on my first year with my foxgloves....So I will have to wait and
see!

Then there are some plants - wallflowers say - which are treated as
biennials and planted out for spring flowering then thrown away. However,
wallflowers are perennials.

Regards

Ron

On 23 Jun 2003 11:05:32 GMT, Rick McGreal
wrote:

"Janice" wrote in news:LLAJa.2335$yw5.31233@newsfep4-
glfd.server.ntli.net:

This is a bit of a silly question but, a biennial, does it die after it's
flowered or come back again like a perennial does?

The book I have been reading has this to say

--------------
Biennial
A plant that requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle.
e.g. Foxglove. Leaves are formed during the first year, flowers and seeds
the following season
--------------

So I would say it dies....
But I'm on my first year with my foxgloves....So I will have to wait and
see!

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 look at fields of nettles round my way and think to myself "look at
all that compost". SWMBO is getting concerned I think. 8-)

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....

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

I look at fields of nettles round my way and think to myself "look at
all that compost". SWMBO is getting concerned I think. 8-)

Around here they are butterfly attractors.....Nothing more...
Oh....Yeah...they are also a royal pain in the arse.....B-(
They spread like wildfire....

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ^W^W^W^W uk.rec.gardening, I
heard Rick McGreal say...
And I just don't see the point in an annual at all....Why have a plant for
just a few months?

Planting annuals as bedding plants has always seemed a bit daft to me,
although they keep the border looking good as long as you take the time
and effort to keep replanting.

But annuals left to grow, set seed & die will continue to come back each
year, like my Aquilegia, that are multiplying around the garden. No
effort required.
--
Fenny
Fictitious Facts of the Day - from a list by Andrew Burford
#4: Spearmint is made from real spears.

(Fenny) wrote in
:

Planting annuals as bedding plants has always seemed a bit daft to me,
although they keep the border looking good as long as you take the
time and effort to keep replanting.

Yeah....

But annuals left to grow, set seed & die will continue to come back
each year, like my Aquilegia, that are multiplying around the garden.
No effort required.

I like allysum(sp?)...But getting the buggers to set seeds is an effort in
futility!
My mum has been trying for years and failed every time!
She has no idea what she is doing wrong!

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

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!

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 ;-)

They don't?
Why not?

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!

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

Kay Easton wrote in
:

Thats pretty much what my mum said!
Ah - she is a gardener!

Oh yes.....
Not a big gardenner but she has picked up a fair few tricks...
She actually trained as a florist....Then went onto gardenning from there

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 there are many times where you will see annuals used as border plants
that are well visited by bees and other flying insects...
I think that annuals seem to go for any kind of method to pass and spread
their seeds

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.

Oh yes....
Don't doubt that.....
But it just seems to me that annuals don't really match up against other
types of flower....
Maybe its personal...*Shrug*

In article , Rick McGreal
writes
Kay Easton wrote in
:

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 there are many times where you will see annuals used as border plants
that are well visited by bees and other flying insects...

I think that annuals seem to go for any kind of method to pass and spread
their seeds

Yes, that's what I was getting at - there is the same range of
pollination methods, but it's our preference for the showy things which
means that so many of the annuals we grow are the ones which are
pollinated by bees etc, rather than the wind or moth pollinated ones
which are less showy.

ie - annuals that we use tend to be showy. This is not because annuals
as a whole tend to go for bee pollination, but because we tend to like
the same flowers as the bees do, and grow those .

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.

Oh yes....
Don't doubt that.....
But it just seems to me that annuals don't really match up against other
types of flower....
Maybe its personal...*Shrug*

I'm with you. I can't be bothered to grow something that I'll have to
grow again next year. And I hate the idea of growing the same thing
every year - I regard seed sowing as a learning process - discovering
what this plant is like during its whole life cycle. And, finally, I
have so many slugs that I need a bit of toughness before I plants stuff
out, and this is more difficult to achieve with annuals.
--
Kay Easton

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

On 23 Jun 2003 11:05:32 GMT, Rick McGreal
wrote:

"Janice" wrote in news:LLAJa.2335$yw5.31233@newsfep4-
glfd.server.ntli.net:

This is a bit of a silly question but, a biennial, does it die after it's
flowered or come back again like a perennial does?

The book I have been reading has this to say

--------------
Biennial
A plant that requires two growing seasons to complete its life cycle.
e.g. Foxglove. Leaves are formed during the first year, flowers and seeds
the following season
--------------

So I would say it dies....
But I'm on my first year with my foxgloves....So I will have to wait and
see!

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 look at fields of nettles round my way and think to myself "look at
all that compost". SWMBO is getting concerned I think. 8-)

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....

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

I look at fields of nettles round my way and think to myself "look at
all that compost". SWMBO is getting concerned I think. 8-)

Around here they are butterfly attractors.....Nothing more...
Oh....Yeah...they are also a royal pain in the arse.....B-(
They spread like wildfire....

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ^W^W^W^W uk.rec.gardening, I
heard Rick McGreal say...
And I just don't see the point in an annual at all....Why have a plant for
just a few months?

Planting annuals as bedding plants has always seemed a bit daft to me,
although they keep the border looking good as long as you take the time
and effort to keep replanting.

But annuals left to grow, set seed & die will continue to come back each
year, like my Aquilegia, that are multiplying around the garden. No
effort required.
--
Fenny
Fictitious Facts of the Day - from a list by Andrew Burford
#4: Spearmint is made from real spears.