Babe's Blossoms Glossary
Annual plant
Plant that completes its life - germinates, grows, blooms, dies - within one year.
- Advantages:
Will usually bloom all summer. You can change the design of your garden or container every year.
- Disadvantages: It dies at the end of the first year and you have to replant every year.
Perennial plant
Plant whose root goes dormant in the winter and revives and grows again every year.
- Advantages: You don't have to plant every year. Plants usually grow and expand so that every few years you can divide one plant into several that can be planted elsewhere.
- Disadvantages: Limited bloom time throughout the summer. Some yearly maintenance required.
Sun Requirements
Plants have different sun requirements for optimum growth.
Plant tags should give you the desired conditions for that plant.
- Full sun: approximately 6 - 8 hours of direct sun per day. Even if a plant specifies "full sun," it will usually still appreciate some afternoon shade.
- Part shade/part sun: less than 6 hours of sun per day. Plants in this group usually need some shade from the hot afternoon sun but tolerate morning sun well.
- Part shade: can tolerate a few hours of early morning sun per day or all day dappled sun/shade.
- Shade: prefers no direct sun.
Blue blooms
When plant descriptions say it has "blue" blooms, envision variations from lavender to purple. There are very few true blue flowers.
Red blooms
Can vary from fuchsia pink to orange.
Deadhead
Verb, meaning to remove blooms that are finished, dried up and brown.
USDA Hardiness Zone
Based on climate, the United States Department of Agriculture assigns different numbers to designate different growing zones in the country. They range from zone 1, which is the farthest north zone, to zone 10, the farthest south. Our area of Minnesota is considered zone 4.
- When buying perennials or shrubs, look for designation of zone 4 or lower. Occasionally you might have good luck with some zone 5 plants but to be on the safe side, go for zone 4 or lower.
Different growth habits:
The following are the typical growth habits of plants.
- Upright: plant grows more vertical than horizontal.
- Mounding: plant grows to a rounded, mound
- Semi-trailing: plant spreads out, usually on stiffer stems
- Trailing: plant will drape over the sides of a container
