ANNUAL SEEDS

ANNUALS

Annual plants germinate, emerge, come into flower, and set seed and complete their growing cycle in one season or year. By harvesting the seeds, you can grow them year after year. That's what differentiates annuals from a biennial, which lives for two years, and a perennial plant will live for three or more years. Many perennials require several growing seasons to flower and produce seed. Perennial plant seed can also be re-sewn in the landscape. Some key things to know are: stratification and vernalization. Stratification is the cold requirement that some seeds may require before they will germinate, vernalization is the overwinter cold requirement that existing plants must experience before they will make seed heads.

Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, intoxicants and clothing. Ethnobotany is investigating plants used by societies in various parts of the world.

Annual Info & Photos:

Yellow Monkeyflower: Mimulus guttatus, grows in all types of wet places; wet ledges and rock faces, near springs, wet ditches and clearings.

Large Flowered Collomia: Collomia grandiflora: likes dry, open, and lightly forested areas.

Miner's Lettuce: Claytonia perfoliata: grows in spring-damp and often shady places.

Candyflower: Claytonia sibirica: Grows in moist places in forests, streambanks.

Largeleaf Avens: Geum macrophyllum: Likes mixed forested areas, moist streambanks, usually at low elevations.

Baby Blue Eyes: Nemophila menziesii var. atomaria, white form with black dots; BBE prefers full sun and somewhat moist, well-drained soil. They can be sown in fall or late winter. Plant this beautiful annual in front borders, scatter in lawns or meadows, mix with bulbs in a moist rock garden, or use as a filler in containers. Grows in spring-moist flats at low elevations. (Available 2022)