Basic Gardening Terms: TYPES OF PLANTS / PLANT FORMS
Herbaceous plants
Plants whose stems are soft and green rather than woody. Most herbaceous plants go dormant
over the winter. Volcano phlox are a good example of a herbaceous plant.
Perennial plants
Perennials are plants that last more than one year, generally coming back season after season.
NOTE: some plants are "perennial" in warmer climates but in colder climates may be
considered a "tender perennial", meaning that although it may perform well all summer, it won't
make it through a cold winter.
Annual plants
Biennial plants
Annuals only grow for one season. Many cut-flowers and most vegetables are considered
"annuals"
These are a bit tricky to understand and are often grouped with perennials. Basically they take 2
seasons to complete their growth cycle. If it starts as a seedling the first year, it won't bloom
until the next. Most biennials self-seed, meaning that after their bloom cycle ends, their
blossoms create seed heads which then drop to the ground and start the cycle again. Common
biennials include hollyhocks, dianthus and campanula.
Bulbs
They're basically a swollen underground stem. The outside of the bulb wraps around an inner
heart of the bulb to protect it and supply food. The two major categories of bulbs are spring
blooming which are planted in the fall, and summer blooming which are planted in the spring.
Rhizomes
Often confused with bulbs, rhizomes grow horizontally either under the ground, or along the
ground, sending out new shoots above ground and roots under ground. Tropicanna canna is an
example of a rhizome.
Tubers
Bareroot plants
These are fleshy oblong or rounded outgrowths of a stem or rhizome that remains underground.
Potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are examples of tubers.
Some perennials, trees and many roses are often sold as bareroot plants, meaning that they've
been dug from the ground during their dormant stage; the soil's been removed from the roots
and the plant's been wrapped in some sort of protective covering for shipment or delivery.
Barerrot plants are often sold via mailorder and online sources. It's important to read and follow
the directions before planting bareroot perennials, shrubs, roses or even trees.
Ornamentals
Refers to plants that are decorative rather than edibles. Ornamentals generally include
perennials, annual flowers, shrubs and roses.
Hybrids
Hybrid plants are created when cross breeding takes place. Growers create hybrids with the
goal of producing a plant that contains the best traits of each of the plants that were crossed. It
can also occur naturally through cross-pollination within members of the same plant species
(two types of tomatoes, two types of corn, etc.)
GMOs
Unlike Hybrids, GMO plants are the result of genetic engineering during a process in which the
plant's DNA is altered. GMO stands for genetically modified organism.
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