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| Photo Credit: Stephanie Cohen |
| Bring some color into your garden with Salvia x sylvestris 'May Night'. |
Do you know what a “perennial” is? If you do, go to the head of the class – because many people don’t know the answer.
Until now… A perennial is simply any hardy plant that lives three or more years (if you don’t kill it). The difference between a perennial and an annual is that a perennial sticks around season after season. An annual, on the other hand, flowers, sets seed and dies all within one growing season. Its motto is, “Live Fast, Die Young.” The perennial motto is, “Perennials – Live Long, Remember, 70 is the new 50!” Many beginner gardeners think their annuals are perennials because the plants appear to come back and reflower the next year. Since we don’t always remember exactly where we’ve planted, sometimes we assume it’s the same plant that comes back. In reality it’s more likely that the annual the season before had dropped some seed, and that’s what bloomed the following year. When it comes to planting, perennials aren’t vegetables lined up in rows like soldiers. They march to a different drummer and are planted in drifts. A drift is simply all the same plants in a contiguous area. We don’t plant a marigold, then a zinnia and then a salvia. We plant all of the same type of plant together, like three asters. When we design with perennials we should work in odd numbers – 1-3 for large plants, 3-5 for medium-sized plants and 5-7 for small ones. Otherwise, it makes no impact. The “One-of-Eachee” school of design makes for a hodgepodge in a perennial border. It’s not good – and it’s not attractive.
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