A to Z Challenge: P is for Perennials

I'm back! In case you missed it, I'm taking part in the 10th anniversary of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, the annual event where hundreds of bloggers write 26 blogs—one for each letter of the alphabet—and post them each day of the month, except Sundays. I’m blogging about: THINGS THAT GROW IN ALBERTA. Leave a comment on my blog, Facebook page, or Twitter for a chance to WIN a set of the Superman Duffy books.


Missed a post? Click here start back at the letter "A."

P is for Perennials

Perennials. Annuals.

One grows back year after year. The other, you plant annually.

I guess when you break it down like that, it makes sense which is which, but up until right now, I always got the two mixed up. I mean, can you blame me? It seems perfectly logical to think that annuals grow back…annually. <shrug>

Perennials—like the small flowering plants all throughout my grandma’s garden—grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their root stock. Daffodils—which I’ve talked about a lot in my A to Z of Things That grow—are a perfect example.

Perennials grow “structures”—like bulbs or tubes—to help them survive the winter, while annuals produce unprotected seeds that can’t survive the elements.

Although most food crops are annual, perennial crops do have their place in agriculture. Their deep, extensive root systems can hold soil to prevent erosion, capture nitrogen, and out-compete weeds.

For more about soil, comment below or on one of my many social media links above for a chance to win a copy of Beneath the SOIL, the scariest book in the Superman Duffy series of graphic novels.

Gotta Jet! I'm back tomorrow with a tricky letter "Q." 

~ Chase Superman Duffy