1. Horticulture Science Lesson 79 Using Annuals and Perennials in the Landscape

2. Interest Approach
Pass out photographs of flowers. See how many students can name the flowers. Then, ask the students to sort the photographs into categories. Possible categories are “Plants that prefer sun or shade,” “Plants over 1 foot tall,” and “Plants with pink flowers.” Finally, have the students try to guess what each plant could be used for in the garden.

3. Student Learning Objectives
Distinguish between an annual and a perennial.
Explain how to use annuals and perennials in the landscape.

4. Student Learning Objectives
Describe how to design a flower garden.

5. Terms accent annual biennial border garden bulbs color rotation
deadheading
herbaceous perennials
island bed
mulch
perennial

6. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
Flowers add visual interest as well as fragrance to the garden.
Flowering plants can be divided into three categories: annuals, perennials, and biennials.
A plant that completes its life cycle within one year or one growing season is called an annual.
People can purchase annuals as seed or as plants.
Annuals are planted in the spring, bloom throughout the summer, and die with the coming of the frost.
Common annuals are marigolds, petunias, impatiens, and geraniums.

7. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
1. Annuals can be used in the landscape for continuous color during the growing season.
They can be placed around evergreen shrubs and on patios or decks.
Annuals make wonderful window boxes and container plantings.
Some annuals attract butterflies to the garden.

8. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
2. Another use for these flowering plants is as cut flowers.
The plants are grown in the garden, and the flowers are then harvested and brought indoors to be used in vases and other fresh arrangements.

9. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
A perennial is a plant that has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
A herbaceous perennial has soft tissue, unlike the woody tissue found in a tree or shrub.
Perennials are usually placed in the garden as small plants.
With proper care, they survive from year to year.
Examples of perennials are peonies, irises, delphiniums, hostas, and daylilies.

10. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
1. Perennials have many of the same uses as annuals, but they don’t always do as well in containers or window boxes.
2. Perennials also have specific times when they bloom.
Paying attention to the blooming season of perennials is important when selecting them for the garden.
To maintain continuous color in the garden, select a variety of plants that bloom at different times.

11. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
Bulbs are a special category of perennials.
In the horticulture industry, plants that have bulbs, corms, tubers, or rhizomes are often clumped together and called bulbs.
Technically, bulbs are short, flattened stems that bear fleshy, food-storage leaves.

12. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
1. Most bulbs are planted in the fall and flower the following spring.
Examples are tulips and daffodils.
A few bulbs, like gladiolas and tuberous begonias, are planted in the spring and flower in the summer.
2. Bulbs can also be planted in pots and forced into early flowering for use in the florist industry.

13. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
A third category of flowering plants is biennials.
A biennial is a plant that normally requires two growing seasons to produce flowers and seed before dying.
It grows foliage the first year and blooms the second year.
Relatively few biennials are used in flower gardens.
Examples of biennial plants are foxgloves and blackberry lilies.
Blackberry lily

14. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
Annuals and perennials have many uses in the landscape.
When placed in the proper environment and given periodic maintenance, these flowering plants can become assets to any well-designed landscape.
Annuals and perennials provide an accent of color to the landscape.

15. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
Accent is special emphasis provided by striking or prominent features of the landscape plants or structures.
The bright flower and foliage colors are visually appealing.
Because the colors attract the attention of the viewer, they must be used with caution.

16. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
1. A cardinal rule of landscape design is to treat the house as the most important feature of the landscape.
Bright-colored flowers draw attention from the house.
Flowers between foundation plants, lining driveways, and in island beds in the front lawn divert attention from the house and are considered poor design.
A few flowers placed by the front door are acceptable, as the flowers help to call attention to the door.
The best place for extensive use of flowers is in the outdoor living area.

17. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
2. In the outdoor living area, plant flowers in full view of the patio, deck, or interior rooms.
Here, flowers can be enjoyed without detracting from the house.
3. When designing flower gardens, be careful not to overwhelm the viewer with color.
Use the flowers to create high-interest areas within the design.
Overuse of flowers disrupts the relaxing effect of the landscape achieved through the use of green plants.

18. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
Select annuals and perennials adapted to the growing conditions in the landscape.
Two of the most critical environmental factors for growing flowers are the amount of sunlight and the amount of moisture.
Be sure to check a reference to find out which plants prefer sun or shade and dry soils or moist soils.
It is very important that the soil be in the right condition for perennials because these plants will stay in the garden for many years.

19. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
To keep annuals and perennials looking their best, it is important to maintain them.
Flower gardens need to be watered, weeded, and mulched.
1. Mulch is a material placed around the flowers to help maintain moisture and keep the soil temperature uniform.
Examples of mulch are pine bark chips and acorn hulls.

20. How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?
2. Pest problems can be reduced by starting with disease- and insect-free plants and placing them in the correct growing environment.
3. The appearance of the flowers can be improved through a practice called deadheading, in which the spent flowers are removed.
The flowering of many perennials declines as they become overgrown.
Many perennials benefit from division every three to five years to prevent their becoming overgrown.

21. How do you design a flower garden?
The most important thing a gardener can do before actually planting a flower garden is to plan the garden on paper.
By doing the design first, the gardener will save money by purchasing the correct type and number of flowers and will avoid the need to make changes to the garden later.
The purpose of the garden and the location of the garden must be determined in advance.
The gardener must evaluate the growing conditions in the garden.
Then, plants can be selected to fit the design needs.

22. How do you design a flower garden?
A flower garden can be a border garden or an island bed.
A border garden is placed along a fence or a wall in the yard. It is usually viewed from only one side.
An island bed is placed in the center of the yard, with the tall plants in the center of the garden and the shorter plants toward the outer edges.

23. How do you design a flower garden?
1. Angled or incurved flower beds work best for designing a flower border.
The bed pattern itself creates interest.
Design the flower border to be no more than 5 feet in depth.
This allows for easy maintenance and view of all the flowering plants.

24. How do you design a flower garden?
2. In a border garden, the tall plants are placed in the back, with the shorter plants up front. The designer should be careful to avoid a stair-step look from the side of the garden.
This can be accomplished by staggering the location of the various heights of plants.

25. How do you design a flower garden?
3. Warm-color flowers are powerful and should be used sparingly in small landscapes, as they tend to close in on the viewer.
Follow the sequence principle of design and select flowers with colors that will provide a smooth transition from one drift to the next.
Place coarse-textured flowering plants at the ends to provide strength and to frame the flowers in the incurve.

26. How do you design a flower garden?
4. Flowers are best used in combination with woody plants.
Design flower borders to be planted in front of woody plant materials or physical structures, such as fences or walls.
The woody plants with green foliage provide a backdrop for the flowers.

27. How do you design a flower garden?
5. Plant the flowers in drifts of the same varieties.
Drifts of color are bold in appearance and striking.
Avoid mixing individual flower varieties and colors within a flower bed.
The spattering of different colors in a flower bed has a busy appearance and is difficult for the viewer to process.

28. How do you design a flower garden?
Flowers provide seasonal displays of color.
Sometimes only a few months of color can be expected from a type of plant.
1. Mix groups of annual flowers with groups of perennials to extend and enrich the floral display.
2. The length of time a flower bed shows color can be extended by applying a color rotation strategy.
Color rotation involves the cycle of several floral displays in one growing season.

29. How do you design a flower garden?
3. In spring, the flower bed may display flowers of spring-flowering bulbs, such as tulips, narcissus, and hyacinths.
When the bulbs finish flowering, they are replaced with annuals, such as petunias, marigolds, and impatiens.
A third planting occurs as temperatures drop in the fall.
The fall bed might display chrysanthemums or ornamental cabbage.

30. Review/Summary
What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
How are annuals and perennials used in the landscape?

31. Review/Summary
How do you design a flower garden?