ANNUAL - A plant that grows through one season and is removed at the end of the season to be replaced by new plants. These can be plants of tropical origin such as New Guinea impatiens that are not winter hardy or they may be naturally occurring annuals such as coreopsis that reproduce themselves from seed each year. Some annuals such as pansies thrive in cooler weather and can be grown through the mild Georgia fall and winter.

PERENNIAL (HERBACEOUS PERENNIAL) - A non-woody plant that lives from year to year. This category refers to plants with soft stems (herbaceous) as opposed to shrubs and trees which have woody trunks and branches. Some perennials are evergreen whose foliage persists through the winter. Others have foliage that is killed by frost and is said to die back to the ground each year.

EVERGREEN - This refers to a plant that retains its leaves throughout the year. Examples are hollies, pine trees, and camelllias.

DECIDUOUS - This refers to plants that lose their leaves in the fall. Examples are forsythia, maple trees and hydrangeas.

MULCH - Mulch is any non-living material that is placed over the bare ground to conserve moisture and deter soil erosion. The best mulches are plant parts such as pine straw, shredded bark, and leaves because they can be easily broken down by microorganisms in the soil adding organic matter and nutrients that can be used by the plants. Some mulches such as hardwood mulch require the soil microorganisms to use nitrogen from the soil to break them down. When this occurs the nitrogen is not available for the plant to use until after the mulch has been broken down which can take several growing seasons. Therefore if hardwood mulches are used it is necessary to provide the plants with nitrogen by adding extra fertilizer.

FERTILIZER - Fertilizer is a blend of ingredients combined to provide nutrients in known amounts to plants. Every package of fertilizer has on it the amount of each nutrient it provides printed on it. The designations are from the periodic table of elements (remember that from science class?). N stands for nitrogen and is the first number in the analysis. P stands for phosphorus and is the second number in the analysis. K stands for potassium and is the third number in the analysis. These 3 comprise what are known as the major elements required for plant growth. There are 11 other elements known to be required in small but critical amounts. Some fertilizers provide some of these and some provide all of these. Generally plants growing in the ground get them naturally but plants growing in containers need to have them supplied by you.


© The Urban Gardener, Inc. 2005

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