The permanent structure of your garden
Perennial plants live for more than two years, as opposed to annuals – one year – and biennials – two years. This can be from three or four years (often termed short-lived perennials) to the oldest living things on the planet, trees. Mix in the fact that the woody trees and shrubs can be evergreen, for winter interest or deciduous, for dynamic changes from spring to autumn, and your garden can’t do without them.
Perennial plants – Trees
The definition of a tree is: “a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.” However, trees can be tiny in the gardening world, growing on dwarfing rootstocks or kept small by pruning (think bonsai). The best place to see trees is in an arboretum – visit Thorp Perrow in Bedale, North Yorkshire.
Trees are so special because of their great age and ability to house whole ecosystems. The oldest individual tree in the world is thought to be a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) living in the White Mountains of California at an astounding 5,062 years old. However, the oldest living plant organisms in the world are not individuals. They are ‘clonal colonies’ – genetically identical trees connected by a single root system.
Shrubs
The definition of a shrub: “a woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has several main stems arising at or near the ground.” In reality, there’s no clear dividing line between trees and shrubs. Some large shrubs, such as Viburnum tinus or Photinia Red Robin, can be grown as small trees with some judicious pruning to create a clean ‘trunk’. Also, fast-growing tree Eucalyptus gunnii is often grown as a shrub, pruned hard to encourage the young, bluish, round leaves.
Perennial plants – Herbaceous perennials
‘Ones that come back every year,’ is how my mam refers to herbaceous perennials. The top foliage dies back to the crowns in late autumn, the plant becoming dormant during winter, only to sprout again in spring. Herbaceous perennials generally have soft or succulent stems, compared to the woody stems of shrubs.
These plants are your paintbox and the flesh on the bones of the trees and shrubs. They provide colour from late spring to the frosts. Think Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Echinops, Phlox, Heuchera… the list goes on and on. A good garden depends on a blend of all three (and annuals) for interest all year.
