All plant beings play a very important role in nature but, although they can be classified in many different ways, when designing a garden one of the things that we are most interested in knowing is whether they are deciduous or evergreen. Why? Because depending on the behavior of its foliage we can have, for example, shade all year round or only during spring and summer.
In this article we are going to focus on the evergreen plants, since it is usually thought that they are evergreen, that is, that they never lose their leaf. And that is a mistake.
Perennial, in botany, it does not mean eternal
I know, it can create a lot of confusion. And it is that, of course, perennial is used to say that something lasts forever or, at least, a long time (when "a long time" can mean decades). But not followers, no.
A plant that is evergreen (or evergreen) also drops its leaves. The vast majority of species do it little by little as the year goes by, but there are others that throw a good part of the foliage from their canopy once in twelve months and the next year they throw the rest. The latter is what, for example, the Brachychiton populneus.
Advantages and disadvantages of having these plants
Advantages
Evergreen plants have several advantages over deciduous plants for the gardener. They are as follows:
- They provide shade all year round.
- They can be used as hiding hedges.
- They do not "dirty" (leaves are not garbage, that's why I put it in quotes 🙂) as much as deciduous ones.
- They make the garden look full of life every day.
- They resume their growth somewhat earlier, since they do not have to expend energy for the production of a new crown of leaves.
Drawbacks
These plants also have their disadvantages, his:
- During the first winter they spend in their new location they tend to lose many more leaves than would be normal.
- They are usually more vulnerable to the attack of pests and microorganisms that cause diseases, since this type of living beings feed on the leaves. Of course, the longer there are sheets available, the better for them.
What did you think of this topic? 🙂