Plant Categories

Annuals

Annuals are plants that perform their entire life cycle from seed to flower to seed within a single growing season. All roots, stems and leaves of the plant die annually. Only the dormant seed bridges the gap between one generation and the next.

Some examples of annuals include many common flowers including these summer-flowering plants: Coleus, Cosmos, and Gaillardia.

Annual or Perennial Depends on Climate & Growing Conditions

Some plants can behave as an annual or a perennial, depending on local climatic and geographic growing conditions. In the southern portion of the United States, these plants tend to grow much quicker than in the north due to the warmer weather and extended growing season. For example: a Black-Eyed Susan would behave as an annual if grown in Louisiana, but if grown in Ohio, it would behave as a perennial.

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Perennials

Perennials are plants that persist for many growing seasons. Generally the top portion of the plant dies back each winter and grows again the following spring from the same root system.

Many perennial plants do keep their leaves year round and offer attractive borders and groundcover.

An important note: When perennial plants are started from seed, blooms will be seen in either the spring or summer of the second year and each year thereafter.

Some examples of perennials for Texas landscapes include Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea angustifolis), Guara (Gaura lindheimeri), and Turk’s Cap (Malvaviscusdrummondii)

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Biennials

Biennials are plants which require two years to complete their life cycle. First season growth results in a small rosette of leaves near the soil surface. During the second season's growth stem elongation, flowering and seed formation occur followed by the entire plant's death.

Examples of biennial plants include: Queen Ann's Lace (above), Blackberries, Hollyhocks and Black-eyed Susan.

Many common vegetable plants are biennials, but we don’t think of them that way because we harvest them at the end of their first growing season. If left in the ground, the next spring, they will send up shoots that flower and produce seeds. These vegetables include beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collard, endive, kale, kohlrabi, leek, onion, parsley, parsnip, rutabaga, salsify, and turnip. When young biennial plants are subjected to cold weather early during their growth, they may produce seed the first season.

Vegetable or Fruit?

A Heated Debate

The vegetable versus fruit debate can become heated when chefs and botanists are involved. In botany, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. According to these definitions, apples, squash and tomatoes are fruits, while beets, potatoes (roots), spinach, kale (leaves) celery, and broccoli (stems) are vegetables.

Chefs classify as vegetables those foods that are savory and as fruits those foods that are sweet. This leads to the culinary classification of the fruits tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplants as vegetables. (livescience.com) We’ll get to the fruit vs. nut question later.

Photo Source: Andrea Stöckel. CCO Public Domain

The debate became so fierce over the classification of an imported tomato that the government had to step in. “In the 1893 United States Supreme Court case Nix. v. Hedden, the court rule unanimously that an imported tomato should be taxed as a vegetable, rather than as a (less taxed) fruit. The court acknowledged that a tomato is a botanical fruit, but went with what they called the "ordinary" definitions of fruit and vegetable — the ones used in the kitchen.” Source: What's the difference between fruit and vegetables?

Since few of us are botanists, we have classified vegetables and fruits by the common or culinary definition, so you will find tomatoes in the Vegetables section.

Fruits & Nuts

Botanically, there is no difference between fruits and nuts. Fruits are defined as the mature ovary of any flower, plant, or tree that contains seeds. What we call the nut is the seed and the outer shell is the fruit. It’s a bit more complex because we tend to confuse nuts with legumes (peanuts) and drupes (almonds).

The culinary definitions are again the most commonly used. Fruits tend to be soft and tender and have juices. Nuts tend to be hard and dry. Fruit and nuts are often mixed, but in general savory dishes have more nuts than fruit, while in sweet dishes, fruit dominates. Source: Difference Between Fruits and Nuts.

Herbs

Herbaceous refers to a plant that lacks a woody stem, which applies to many plants that we don't grnerally think of as herbs. The term "herb" does not have a true botanical meaning. According to the American Botanical Council, herb has several different meanings depending on the perspective:

“In commercial terms - herb generally refers to plants used for culinary purposes. Additionally the terminology differentiates Temperate Zone plants from tropical and sub-tropical plants (i.e., spices).

In horticultural terms - herb refers to "herbaceous," which describes the appearance of the plant (i.e., a non-woody, vascular plant).
In taxonomic terms - herb generally refers to the aboveground parts or the aerial parts (i.e., the flower, leaf, and stem).
In terms of herbal medicine - herb refers to plants used in various forms or preparations, valued for their therapeutic benefits, and sold as dietary supplements in the U.S. marketplace.” Sorce: Terminology

We have applied "herb" to plants commonly used for culinary and theraputic purposes. They differ from spices, which are derived from other plant parts, like seeds, roots or bark.

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