What is a perennial plant?

Definition of Perennial: There are two ways to define the term perennial plant, a botanist's definition of perennial and a gardener's definition. A botanist defines a perennial as a plant whose life cycle is more than two years. Botanists classify plants as either annual, biennial, or perennial. Annuals complete their life cycle in a single year and then die of old age. Biennials take two years to complete their life cycle. Perennial flowers take more than two years to complete their life cycle.

For a gardener, the perennial vs. annual question also takes into account the weather tolerance of a plant and for gardeners, the definition of perennial is, a plant that survives the winter in my garden and comes back every year. For a perennial garden in Minnesota, a calla lily is an annual because it cannot tolerate the cold Minnesota winters, but in southern Florida, a calla lily is a perennial flower because it will live for many years.

Perennial flowering plants can be further divided into woody perennials like a tree or shrub and herbaceous perennials (not-woody) like peony or trillium. Plant Delights Nursery specializes in herbaceous perennials but we sell a few woody perennials too.

Our primary focus is on perennial flowers that are winter hardy in the southern US (Zone 6 and warmer) but we grow many perennial flowering plants that are cold tolerant in Zone 3, Zone 4, or Zone 5.

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Do you know what hardiness zone you are in? Use your zip code to find your zone! Below is our current list of perennial flowers for sale... A to Z. If you want to see all of the flowering perennials that we have sold in the past, please check out our Perennial Encyclopedia.