PERENNIALS

Learn Online - PLANTS COURSE

Perennial Flower Gardening Course

• Learn to identify, select and grow perennial plants for floral and foliage displays.
• A course for nurserymen, gardeners, garden designers, plant breeders, plant collectors -anyone with a passion for perennials.

Scope of the Course

This course is broad in scope, covering all types of perennials. It provides a pathway to learning about perennials that also allows each individual student to make choices about the types of perennials they wish to focus their attention on.

In many of the tasks you carry out, you will have an opportunity to focus on the genera that most interest you; and receive mentoring from horticultural experts, to help develop your knowledge with respect to those genera.

Perennials cover a wide range of plants including both ornamental and useful plants. There are perennial plants for all situations.

Botanists may call perennials any plants that live for several years (ie. anything that is not an annual or a biennial). Gardeners and horticulturists however, generally refer to perennials as plants which have softer tissue (ie. are not woody), as well as living for several years.

The term biennial is also sometimes used, referring to a plant that lives for and completes its life cycle in 2 years. A perennial may therefore be distinguished from annuals and biennials as having a longer lifespan than those two types of plants.

Horticulturists and gardeners commonly think of two types of perennials:

• herbaceous perennials
• evergreen perennials

Herbaceous perennials die back for during part of the year. Commonly, the whole of the top of the plant may die back, leaving a crown or swelling at ground level, and the roots below. Some however may only loose part of the top growth. Evergreen perennials maintain leaves (at least some) throughout all seasons.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Review of the system of plant identification
   • Physiology
   • Information sources
2. Culture
   • Planting
   • Staking
   • Mulching
   • Watering
   • Feeding
   • Pruning, etc.
3. Propagation and Hybridization
   • Seed
   • Pricking out seedlings
   • Cuttings
   • Factors affecting cutting strike
   • Propagating media
   • Types of cuttings
   • Hardening off young plants
   • Division
   • Separation
   • Layering
   • Potting mixes
   • Potting up
4. Review of Major Types of Perennials
   • Herbaceous perennials
   • Establishing herbaceous plants
   • Popular bulbs, corms and tubers
   • Supporting herbaceous plants
   • Herbs in a perennial border
   • Wildflower meadows
   • Maintaining herbaceous borders
   • Perennials for different purposes/uses
   • Artemisia
   • Lavandula
   • Scented Geraniums
   • Ornamental; grasses
   • Bamboos
5. Pests and Disease
   • Plant pathology
   • Parasitic and non parasitic problems
   • Conducting an inspection and identifying problems
   • Tell tale symptoms
   • Common terminology
   • Common pests on perennials and their management
   • Diseases
6. Water Management
   • Significance of water
   • Infiltration and water retention
   • Water needs for perennials
   • Watering methods
   • When to water
   • Testing water needs
   • Reducing water needs
   • Watering perennials in pots
   • Drip irrigation
   • Hydroponics Introduction
   • Types of hydroponic systems
7. Landscaping with Perennials
   • Designing the garden
   • Landscape principles and components
   • Landscape effects
   • Design styles
   • Flower bed design
   • Colour themes
   • Cottage gardens
   • What perennials to grow in cottage gardens
   • Scented plants
   • Landscaping with bulbs
8. Further Uses for Perennials
   • Cut Flowers
   • What flowers the longest
   • Harvest and storage
   • Growing Carnations
   • Chrysanthemums
   • Herbs
   • Herb crafts

Aims

• Describe the identification of Perennial Plants
• Determine sources of further information for identifying and growing different varieties of perennials.
• Discuss a variety of cultural techniques used to improve success in growing of different perennial plants
• Determine the propagation of different perennial plants.
• Discuss the horticulture of a range of commonly grown perennial genera.
• Discuss the management of pests and diseases occurring on a range of perennial plants.
• Manage irrigation and drainage to ensure optimum water levels are maintained for healthy growth in perennials.
• Determine appropriate use of perennials in a range of horticultural situations.
• Describe a variety of uses for perennials.

WHY WE TEACH YOU ABOUT PLANT FAMILIES

The basis for understanding different plants is to first understand the families. When you do this you gave a framework to attach your knowledge to. Plants in a family share common characteristics: are propagated similarly, often require similar water and soil conditions, and are able to be pruned similarly - even if they don't necessarily look similar.  Consider just one family that contains a lot of perennial species: