How To Use Biennials & Perennials In Landscaping Your GardenWritten by Paul Curran
BiennialsBiennials are generally very beautiful plants, with most attractive flowers. They are somewhat more trouble for gardener, since they keep growing during their first year and do not bloom until second. Their great advantage is that their seeding stage produces new plants which will bloom again two years later, making it unnecessary to plant additional seeds. The biennials are usually plant ed in early summer and transplanted to good soil when they are large enough to handle. It is a good idea to pot them at this time, particularly in areas where plants cannot be left outdoors all winter. In some cases, they can be transplanted to a coldframe, and then placed in flower bed following spring. The requirements of careful soil preparation apply to biennials as well as annuals. After planting, if you want a continuous new growth of plants, it is best not to weed and cultivate too assiduously. If a really fastidious biennial patch is planted, it will be necessary to replace plants with new ones each year. Perennials Perennials are basic flowers of any garden. Each year they die and renew themselves for next growing season. They are long-lived and last for many seasons. Perennials are also, historically, among our oldest plants. They have been cultivated for centuries and often, as a result of breeding and crossbreeding, bear no resemblance to their wild forebears. In some of perennials, blossoms have become so specialized through centuries of cultivation that they no longer grow 'seeds.
| | How To Propagate Seeds OutdoorsWritten by Paul Curran
Annuals can be grown readily from seed in most cases. The method of growing depends upon delicacy or hardiness of seed, and may require planting in frames or pots initially, transferring to bed only when weather is sufficiently mild and plants well grown. Many perennials and biennials may also be propagated from seed. This method, however, is not suited to all perennials, and some of methods already discussed will yield more fruitful results. Typical perennials which can be propagated from seed are: Hollyhock, Christmas rose, Columbine, Bleeding heart, Baby's breath, Foxglove, Butterfly weed, Primrose, Larkspur. Depending on variety of seed, most annuals and perennials which can be grown by this method can be planted in seedbeds out doors. The time for planting varies. A few can be sown in autumn, but most, however, should be sown in spring, and, to be safe, not before last frost has passed.
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