It is very common that every day we ask ourselves,how long will my plant last? How long will you accompany me? And it is that these types of questions are two of the many questions that we ask ourselves about our plants, especially for those new to the field of planting.
To begin we must say that your biological cycle will have an important weight on the subject, since some plants, such as annuals (also known as seasonal), live for just one year, others will double this time (biennial), while a few chosen ones will be able to do so beyond a thousand years.
Life time of plants
The life expectancy of a plant, like the breed of animals, is determined by its species.
Just as in the animal kingdom we find from the common fly that lives barely ten days, to the long-lived Galapagos tortoise with an estimated time of 250 years, in the field of plants the differences will also be abysmal. So already knowing this and if our plant begins to wilt despite the extreme care that is applied to it, it is possible that you overlook something, but it should not be ruled out that it has already reached its life span, because there are plants that they truly live for a very short time and this may come as a surprise to those who are not privy to the information.
To better understand this topic, it is necessary to know the following categories, such as annuals, biennial plants, and perennials or perennials, this being a classification according to the duration of its biological cycle.
Annual cycle plants
Let's start with the annual cycle plants, which are considered as all those plants capable of developing their complete cycle, from its birth through seed, until its flowering and fruiting and all this in a single year. After finishing this cycle they will die leaving their seeds in the ground.
Upon the arrival of the next season, history will repeat itself, but this time with new plants and depending on the care that was used, with better specimens and that is these plants are herbaceous (no woody stems) and very fast growing. Among them are many of the considered weeds (white radish, poppy, etc.), although also some interesting ones in gardening such as marigolds, taguetes, house joys, cinias, sunflowers or snapdragons.
Biannual plants
Now it's time to talk a little about the biannuals that like the annuals, these too fulfill their biological cycle in a relatively short period of time, although stretching each of its stages a little more. In general, they dedicate the first year to development and the second to their reproduction, which is when they bloom and bear fruit.
Note that biennial plants are less numerous than annuals Some are even partly conditioned by the climate, others and within the agricultural framework, as in the case of carrots, celery, spinach, cabbage or parsley, they are grown as annuals by taking advantage of only their roots or leaves , assuming an inconvenience its flowering. The alelí, the thought, the violet, the bell and / or the daisy of the meadows, are biennial species widely used in gardening by facilitating that touch of color so desired and that only they know how to give.
Perennial or perennial plants
And on the part of perennial and lively plants we reach an interesting point that covers a large part, since it is here where all the plant species with a survival greater than two years. For this reason, they are the ones that should form the bulk of your garden and reserve only a few areas to decorate with seasonal plants.
It's interesting combine them with winter flowering plants. On the other hand, perennials are basically related to herbaceous plants and small shrubs, in order to differentiate all those that retain their aerial part during the winter (perennials) from those that do not. This will also have a lot to do with your location.
Among the perennials we can find geraniums, hydrangeas, lemon verbena, Lavender, azalea, carnations and a long etc.