How to care for annual plants? Great wisdom lies in "one year of flourishing and one year of withering"

Naodong Shouzuo

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"Lush grass on the plain, one year of flourishing and one year of withering."

Bai Juyi's poem is full of regret over the fleeting beauty of plants. Indeed, because of their botanical characteristics, annual plants always have a particularly short life cycle, and some species last even less than a year.

However, for humans, annual plants can be said to be the most important plants, because most of the crops that feed humanity are annuals!

And many beautiful ornamental plants are also annuals.

Only with simple growing conditions can the level of care technique be seen. The simpler it is, the greater the wisdom!

Annual plants are often herbaceous plants. Although annual plants are collectively called "annuals," their actual life cycles vary considerably. Those with shorter lifespans may last only two or three months, while longer ones may exceed a year. They use a short but rapid growth period to store large amounts of nutrients for flowering and fruiting.

It is worth noting that some plants are annuals in the north but become perennials in the south, such as the castor bean. Annual herbaceous plants refer to herbaceous plants whose lifespan is only about 1 to 2 years, from seed germination, growth, flowering, and fruiting to withering and death, such as rice.

For annual ornamental plants, what should be noted in their care? Let's take a look.

1. Temperature

Annual herbs belong to the cold-intolerant ecological type of plants.

They originated in tropical and subtropical regions, where the native temperatures are relatively high and the sunshine duration is relatively short, with no seasonal temperature changes or insignificant changes. Thus, this type of plant requires relatively high temperatures during the growing period, while the transition in the developmental stage requires high temperatures and short-day conditions.

This type of plant cannot tolerate low temperatures below 0°C, and some species cannot tolerate temperatures around 5°C. If exposed to low temperatures, growth stops, and the plant may even die. After being introduced to temperate zones, growth and development can only proceed during the frost-free period.

Annual herbaceous plants are relatively tolerant of high temperatures. Because they require high temperatures during the growing period, they grow most vigorously in summer. Therefore, when introduced to temperate regions, they are suitable for sowing at Qingming. After the late frost ends, vegetative growth begins. When the vegetative body grows to a certain size, it is exactly the summer and autumn seasons. At this time, they have entered the flowering and fruiting stage. By the time the early autumn frost arrives, the plants have already begun to age and die.

2. Light

Most annual herbaceous plants are short-day plants. In temperate regions, they bloom in late summer and early autumn when the number of daylight hours gradually decreases, with the flowering period concentrated from August to September-October. Examples include morning glory, garden balsam, and cosmos. Due to long-term introduction and cultivation, some species are not very strict about sunlight requirements and have even developed into day-neutral plants, often showing earlier flowering or very long flowering periods; the flowering period often varies. For example, some annual flowers can bloom from the end of June to July. Common ones include purslane, garden balsam, and cypress vine. The flowering periods of flowers such as cockscomb, zinnia, and scarlet sage can also last for a very long time.

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