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An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers and dies in one year.
Annuals are often used in gardens to provide splashes of color, as they tend to produce more flowers than perennials. Some perennials and biennials are grown in gardens as annuals for convenience, particularly if they are not considered hardy for the local climate. Also, many food plants are, or are grown as, annuals, including most domesticated grains.
The life-cycle of an annual can occur in a period as short as two or three months in some species, though most last a bit longer. Vegetables grown in apartment container gardens can last up to two years, if they are maintained indoors during the winter months.
Examples of annual plants include peas, cauliflowers, basil, and marigolds.
Summer annuals
Summer annuals sprout, flower and die within the same spring/summer/fall.
Winter annuals
Winter annuals are plants that germinate in the late fall, grow through the winter, and flower and die in the spring. Winter annuals grow low to the ground, where they are usually sheltered from the coldest days by snow cover, and make use of warm periods for growth when the snow melts. Some common winter annuals include henbit, deadnettle, chickweed, and winter cress. Winter annuals are important ecologically, as they provide vegetative cover that prevents sunlight from drying out the soil during periods when no other cover exists.
Although many people consider winter annuals to be weeds in gardens, this viewpoint is not necessary as most of them die back once other plants leaf out in the spring. When their time does not overlap with other plants, they do not compete for the same resources.
Even though they do not compete directly with cultivated plants, sometimes winter annuals are considered a pest in commercial agriculture, because they can be hosts for insect pests which attack the crops being cultivated. Ironically, the property that they prevent the soil from drying out can also be problematic for commercial agriculture.
See also
Planta anual | Einjährige Pflanze | Einær jurt | 一年生植物 | Roślina jednoroczna | Однолетнее растение | ஆண்டுத் தாவரம் | 一年生植物
"Annual plant"