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Have you ever planted a perennial and been disappointed when it disappeared from your garden a year or two after you planted It? It may not be your fault.
As gardeners, we know that many variables affect the well-being of each and every plant we grow: hardiness, amount of light, type of soil, temperature, amount of moisture--the list goes on. Rarely, though, are we told about a plant's longevity. How long can we expect it to live in our garden, if we provide it with at least satisfactory, if not optimal, growing conditions? No tag at the garden center or on that perennial that just arrived in the mail will tell you. Yet it's important information to which every plant customer should have access.
With all those variables I just mentioned--along with genetic variability--it's not possible to give a precise longevity forecast for perennials, but we can at least group them as either long-lived or short-lived. Below is a list of examples that I've compiled for each group. The next time you buy one of these perennials, you'll at least know approximately when you can expect it to expire. If the plant is not on this list, ask the garden center staff or email the mail order nursery. Once you know the longevity of the plant, you can plan your garden (and your finances) accordingly.
Long-lived Perennials (approximately 15 years or longer)
A Note on Biennials:Biennials are plants that require two years to complete their life cycle. Many biennials form basal rosettes of leaves close to the ground the first year and then send up flowering stems the second. This represents their entire longevity. They die after flowering. In some instances, individual plants of a particular species will complete the cycle in one year, particularly if they've been exposed to cold temperatures as seedlings. Common examples of biennials include Sweet William (Dianthus), many Foxglove species (Digitalis), most Hollyhocks (Alcea), and Money Plant (Lunaria). Biennial plants are not always marked as such. If in doubt, be sure to ask the vendor.
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Thanks to the following DG members for the use of their photos:
An enthusiastic gardener for over 50 years, my first plant was a potted Ponderosa Lemon tree ordered from a comic book ad at age 15. I still have it, and it’s still bearing lemons! My wife and I garden on 3/4 of an acre, both flowers and vegetables. Although our garden is private, it's listed with the Smithsonian Institution as a national heritage garden and is on the National Register of Historic Places. We garden organically and no-till. Our vegetable garden contains a seed bank of vegetables brought to this country from Germany in the mid-1800s. For more info: http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/m/LarryR/. Photos that appear in my articles without credit are my own.
