History of biennials flowers

Annuality (living and reproducing in a single year) and perenniality (living more than two years) represent major life history strategies within plant lineages. These traits can shift from one to another over both macroevolutionary and microevolutionary timescales. While perenniality and annuality are often described as discrete either-or traits, they often occur in a continuous spectrum. The complex history of switches between annual and perennial habit involve both natural and artificial causes, and studies of this fluctuation have importance to sustainable agriculture. (Note that "perennial" here refers to both woody and herbaceous perennial species.)

Globally, only 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding trees and shrubs) are annuals. The annual life cycle has independently emerged in over 120 different plant families throughout the entire angiosperm phylogeny. The life-history theory posits that annual plants are favored when adult mortality is higher than seedling (or seed) mortality, i.e., annuals will dominate environments with disturbances or high temporal variability, reducing adult survival. This hypothesis finds support in observations of increased prevalence of annuals in regions with hot-dry summers, with elevated adult mortality and high seed persistence. Furthermore, the evolution of the annual life cycle under hot-dry summer in different families makes it one of the best examples of convergent evolution. Additionally, annual prevalence is also positively affected by year-to-year variability.

According to some studies, either the trait of annuality or perenniality may be ancestral. This contradicts the commonly held belief that annuality is a derived trait from an ancestral perennial life form, as is suggested by a regarded plant population biology

Good things come to those who wait, we’re told… and that’s certainly true in the case of biennial flowers.

Simply meaning ‘flowering in its second year’, biennial is the name given to flowers and other plants which use their first summer to grow a robust rosette of greenery, and then bloom and produce seeds in their second summer. Plant them in late spring or early summer to give them plenty of time to get established before winter, then watch them take off next year!

Some of our best-loved garden flowers are biennials, including some classic cottage garden favourites like foxgloves, sweet William, and hollyhocks. And some are native to the British Isles too, meaning they’re also loved by pollinators and are a fabulous choice for wildlife gardens.

Seeds for biennial flowers are generally planted in spring and early summer. Some you can sow where they are to flower, or you may choose to sow indoors or in seed trays in a greenhouse for a more controlled result, transplanting out to their flowering position when they’re well established. But the longer your biennial seedlings have to grow this year, the better the display next year - so it’s definitely time to get planting!

Here are some stunning biennials you may like to sow now to enjoy next year.

Foxglove (top photo)
You’ll see foxgloves growing wild in hedgerows, woodland and heathland across the UK. Unlike many wildflowers, this is one we welcome into our gardens – which is great news for pollinators! Many beautiful cultivars of this cottage garden favourite are available, useful for adding height to your planting. A word of warning - although they’re certainly beautiful and a real hit with the bees, foxgloves can be toxic to dogs, cats and humans if eaten, and can cause skin irritation if handled. So if you do have young children in the garden or animals which like to snack on your plants, you may feel it’s wise to make a different choice.

Flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological life cycle

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle.

Background

In its first year, the biennial plant undergoes primary growth, during which its vegetative structures (leaves, stems, and roots) develop. Usually, the stem of the plant remains short and the leaves are low to the ground, forming a rosette. After one year's growing season, the plant enters a period of dormancy for the colder months. Many biennials require a cold treatment, or vernalization before they will flower. During the next spring or summer, the stem of the biennial plant elongates greatly, or "bolts". The plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies. There are far fewer biennials than either perennial plants or annual plants.

Biennials do not always follow a strict two-year life cycle and the majority of plants in the wild can take 3 or more years to fully mature. Rosette leaf size has been found to predict when a plant may enter its second stage of flowering and seed production. Alternatively, under extreme climatic conditions, a biennial plant may complete its life cycle rapidly (e.g., in three months instead of two years). This is quite common in vegetable or flower seedlings that were vernalized before they were planted in the ground. This behavior leads to many normally biennial plants being treated as annuals in some areas. Conversely, an annual grown under extremely favorable conditions may have highly successful seed propagation, giving it the appearance of being biennial or perennial. Some short-lived perennials may appear to be biennial rather than perennial. True biennials flower only once, while many perennials will flower every year once mature.

Biennials grown for flowers, fruits, o

Biennials are a unique group of plants that produce only leaves the first year; in the second year, they flower, set seed, and die. This group includes foxglove, sweet rocket, sweet William, and other beloved cottage garden favorites.

What makes these varieties such treasures is that they fill the wide gap between the last of the tulips and the first of the hardy annuals in the garden. Also, the more you pick these blooms, the more they flower. They are real spring workhorses.

Start seeds later than most, at the end of spring, and plant seedlings in the garden at the end of summer. Ideally, plants will have at least 6 to 8 weeks to establish before the first autumn frost.

Once planted, each variety will produce a large clump of foliage before cold weather sets in and then sit dormant through autumn and winter, reawakening to bloom during the later months of spring. Seeds and plants for all these varieties are easy to grow and generally hardy down to 30°F (−1°C).

In this post, I’ll tell you about some of my favorite biennial varieties and why I love them. In the comments section below, I’d love to learn which ones are your favorites.

Sweet William

Of all the biennials I grow, these sturdy plants are the most productive in the spring garden. While they aren’t a huge showstopper when it comes to looks, they add nice color and fragrance to mixed bouquets and have an extremely long vase life. They also are easy to grow, hardy, and usually quite healthy, even with minimal care.

Harvest when just a few flowers are open on a head. This prevents the blossoms in the garden from getting damaged by rain and will give the stems a 2-week vase life.

Super Duplex Mix(pictured above), an old-fashioned favorite, is both beautiful and hardworking. Highly fragrant, dense flower heads have a hydrangea-like quality and are perfect for mixed bouquets.

This diverse mix includes a high percentage of double flowers in shades of rich maroon, magenta, rose-