Landscaping 101: Different Types of Plants

As their name implies, annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in only one season. Typically used to add seasonal color to flowerbeds and planters, these prolific bloomers die back after flowering. Removing spent blooms will stimulate annuals to produce more showy flowers. Common annuals are marigold, vinca, begonia, coleus, zinnia, impatiens, petunia, nasturtium and pentas. But climate plays a big role in determining an annual plant's lifecycle — some varieties of daisies, geranium, lantana, mandevilla, pansies and verbena are perennials in warm climates.

Much less common than annuals and perennials, biennials live for two years, producing foliage the first year and flowers the next. Flowering biennials include hollyhocks, foxglove, dianthus and Canterbury bells. Most biennials are actually vegetables — beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, parsley, parsnip and rutabaga — that produce food the first year but don't complete their growing cycle and drop seed till the second.

Technically defined as a plant that lives for more than two years, perennials are the backbone of any landscape with colorful annuals providing variety. Depending on your climate, some perennials may keep their leaves through the winter but most drop them and die back to the ground to return again in the spring. Popular perennials include: clematis, some types of daisies, hardy ferns, hellebore, hibiscus, hostas, lavender, some ornamental grasses, peonies, periwinkle, phlox, roses, salvia, sedum, violets and yarrow.

One of the easiest plants to grow, bulbs provide plenty of show-stopping color year after year for very little effort. Best of all, bulbs self-propogate meaning they multiply and spread to quickly fill a small bed with blooms. Tulips and daffodils are the most widely known bulbs leading many people to associate bulbs with spring but many varieties of lillies, including canna, Asiatic and Oriental, bloom during the heat of summer. A few other plant types are often mistaken for true bulbs because they grow the same way. For example, bearded iris is a rhizome, crocus and gladiolus are corms, and dahlias and elephant's ear are tubers.