Your quick guide to plant types

• In their one-year life cycle, annuals grow from seed, put on lots of blooms in summer, produce more seed, and then die.

• Hardy annuals such as nasturtiums, love-in-a-mist and cornflowers tolerate the cold. Sow outdoors in March or April and September. 

• Half-hardy annuals include zinnias and cosmos. Sow indoors in spring, and plant out in May or June.

• Biennial plants, like the common foxglove, take two years to complete their life cycle.

• Sown from seed, they grow roots and foliage in one year and die in the next – often coming into flower in late spring, before annuals and perennials.

• Perennials live for three years or longer, and flower right through the summer months. Popular varieties include hostas, lupins, delphiniums and peonies.

• Hardy perennials seem to ‘vanish’ in winter as their foliage dies back and the rootstock beneath lies dormant. New shoots then appear in spring. 

• Half-hardy perennials such as heliotrope and many fuchsias need bringing indoors as soon as the temperature drops – grow in a pot to make moving them easier.

• Whether deciduous (leaves drop in winter) or evergreen (keeps its leaves year-round), nothing marks the changing seasons more beautifully than a tree.

• And even if space is limited, there’s a variety that should fit your garden, such as acers and ornamental cherries. Plant in autumn to give it time to establish strong roots – ready for next year’s growing season.  

• Lots of woody branches, but no trunk, defines plants like roses and lavender as shrubs – a group of shrubs is a bush or hedge.

• Deciduous, evergreen or semi-evergreen (leaves stay on in mild winters), shrubs offer the complete package – adding structure to a garden, attractive foliage, flowers, and colourful berries.

• You can also clip evergreen shrubs into shapes known as topiary.

• Popular varieties include fragrant honeysuckle and jasmine, wisteria and clematis.

• Support them at a fence, trellis or over an arch as they grow. They also work well around seating areas and create attractive screening walls.

Many flowering plants grow from bulbs – nature’s food storage organs. Depending on when you plant them, they’ll bloom either in spring or summer/early autumn. They come in these forms: 

• True bulbs (modified leaves) include daffodils, bluebells, allium, hyacinths and tulips. 

• Rhizomes (swollen, horizontally-growing stems) include summer-flowering bulbs such as iris and lily-of-the-valley which are planted in spring.

• Corms

• Tubers

• For a colourful display that lasts a few months, bedding plants add colour and scent to borders and beds, pots or window boxes.

• Choose from half-hardy annuals or tender perennials such as pelargoniums (geraniums), petunias and pansies, as well as various shrubs and bulbs.