Perennials: What are they?

What is a perennial and how do you know if a plant is a perennial in your zone? A perennial is a plant that will come back year after year. Popular examples are bee balm, delphiniums, coneflowers. and catmint. Perennials tend to be more expensive than annuals, but the payoff is that they will come back year after year. Perennials also tend to be taller and busher than annuals so they tend to fill up more space, which is also money saving.

When shopping for perennials it is vital to know your zone. Not all perennials will survive your zone and sometimes you can tow the line a wee bit. If you're in a zone 3, you can plant zone 4 perennials and see if they'll survive. It's often best to buy perennials from your local greenhouse or farmers market because these people are often experts and will know their perennials. Big box stores often will sneakily sell a plant that is not a perennial in your area.

Veseys has a really good guide on what zone you're in.

This article gives readers the zone for what town/city they are in. Now one thing to consider is urban heat island effect and micro climates.

At markets I often will say a self-seeder is a perennial, this is technically not true. In my eyes they come back year after year so they are a "perennial" in a sense. What plants self seed: lemon bee balm, calendula, dill, husk cherries, tomatillos, catnip, borage, milkweed, some sunflowers, pansies, and Chinese lanterns. The key to getting these plants to self seed is to let them flower and than let the flowers die (don't pick the flowers or deadhead the plant).

In fall time I do nothing special to ensure my perennials will survive the winter. Some people will cut back the perennials and some will cover with mulch. In my perennial patch I practice what I call "chaos gardening". Plants can grow where they want and I only tidy things up in spring. In summer time I make sure things stay weeded.

.poppies.

Veseys has really nice map with the various zones in Canada.

This article tells you exactly what zone you are ie Steinbach, Brandon, Winkler, etc. My only quibble with this site is that they say Winnipeg is in zone 3. I don't necessarily agree with this due to an effect called urban heat island effect and something called micro climates.