8 Reasons to Grow and Love Perennial Plants – GWC Mag

Growing a garden is one of the joys of spring and summer, and while it is a wonderful thing to have a garden full of tomatoes and cucumbers, there is certainly something to be said for growing perennial plants, too.

In general, perennial plants tend to grow much less intensively and produce higher yields in the long run than annual plants. Also, rather than being plants that are pulled up or die year after year, perennials can create a year-round garden that is not only beneficial to you but to local wildlife, too.

If you want to grow a more permanent, year-round perennial garden, check out these helpful OGP articles that guide you through the whats, whys, and hows of perennial gardening.

1. Better for the Garden

Perennial plants grow less intensively and produce much more in the long haul. They slowly establish a deeper root system, which, unlike annual, allows them to retrieve nutrients and water from far below the earth’s surface. This also helps a great deal with erosion issues, which are only escalated each time annual plants are uprooted. Having a longer life, perennial gardens also make an actual ecosystem, where plants, birds, bugs, fungi, and other animals can find their appropriate niches and balance out. Read on to learn about Why Perennial Plants Are Better for the Garden and the Gardener.

2. Greener Perennials

In permaculture, there is a real push to reinvigorate our diet to rely more on perennial food sources rather than our current annual-focused buffet. Nearly all of today’s major foods — corn, flour, rice, soy, tomatoes, and so on — are either annual crops, requiring planting every year, or they are grown as such. For example, though tomatoes are technically perennial plants, they are tropical and won’t survive winters outside of the sticky heat, so they are planted anew each year. Learn more about Why Food from Perennial Sources Are Greener than Annual Crops.

3. Winterize

Without a doubt, perennial plants should be a part of every garden, be they florally fantastic or delectably delicious. Perennial plants require much less work from the gardener and the garden (soil) to grow, and they also help to stabilize the situation by acting as permanent residents. Perennial roots help to prevent erosion by spreading throughout the soft soil of the garden. Perennial leaves help to feed the microbes and soil life, adding to the mulch, and they, too, as mulch thwart erosive winds and rains. Plus, there is always something in the garden: Many perennials sprout and bloom earlier than annual plants, and most of the time they linger in the garden far longer than annual plants. Some even keep blooms into the winter. Learn How to Help Perennial Plants Survive The Winter.

4. Edible Perennials

As we move more towards sustainable food production, we will need to become more familiar with these perennial crops. Perennial plants are much less needy than the annuals our gardens tend to foster. They help to stabilize soils (as opposed to tilling them), increase fertility (as opposed to consuming them), and provide years of harvests (as opposed to one). Here are 12 Perennial Plants that Provide Lots of Food for Years to Come, well-suited for the temperate climate of the US, and can provide a full gamut of flavors, from desserts to roasted root veg to bean pâté.

5. Perennial Herbs

Perennial plants, of course, are those which grow year after year without needing to be replanted. Most supermarket vegetables, like tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuce and potatoes, are planted anew each year. This requires a lot of work and energy. With perennial plants, a single plant can produce and live for years. The culinary herb garden smells fantastic. It attracts butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. It doesn’t take up much space, and in general, culinary herbs grow so prolifically that one or two plants of something provide enough for all the fresh and dried herbs a home needs. Read on to learn all about Growing Your Own Perennial Culinary Herb Garden at Home.

6. Perennial Veggies

Who doesn’t love fresh vegetables? If you’re the kind of person who is always on the hunt for the crispiest in-season produce, then you might be interested in growing your own! If that is the case, great. Today might be the day for those home-grown menus to get a little more sophisticated and the gardening to get, equally so, a lot simpler. Growing perennial vegetables requires much less energy and resources than cultivating season after season. It is even better for the environment than growing annual plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. Here are 8 Perennial Plants for Your Veggie Garden That Will Provide Years of Fresh Food!

7. Window Box Perennials

Edible perennial plants are the way future. These are plants that we can grow that produce food for several years, sometimes decades. What this means for growers is that we don’t have to go through the difficult germination process every year. It often means that more fresh, home-grown food will be available throughout the year. For those trying to produce food at home, particularly in an urban setting where containers play a huge role, a lot can be grown next to sunny windows. There are plenty of annual crops people are playing with growing in containers these days. It might be time to add some perennials to that urban garden. Here are 10 Perennial Food Plants for Containers in a Sunny Window.

8. Perennial Permaculture

Permaculture gardens blend all sorts of plants, including vegetables, fruit and nut trees, flowers, and shrubbery. One of the most important parts of developing a permaculture garden is having a healthy balance of perennial versus annual plants. Due to this perennial efficiency, food production in permaculture gardens pays special attention to these types of plants. While much of our supermarket produce—corn, lettuce, squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.—isn’t perennial, permaculturists try to reimagine the food system to rely on perennial plants. Check out these 10 Perennial Vegetables for the Permaculture Garden.

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