27. WHAT DOES HERBACEOUS MEAN?

In this book, I focus on herbaceous flowers. The word herbaceous describes plants that have a flexible, soft green stem. They are the opposite of woody plants, which include trees, shrubs, and vines that have stems that are not easily bendable and remain alive above ground even during the dormant season. They grow new shoots from the above-ground woody stems.

Herbaceous plants include those that have an annual, perennial, or biennial life cycle. Annual herbaceous plants are those that flower, set seed in one growing season, and do not regrow. Herbaceous perennial plants die to the ground at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant survive underground and new growth develops the following year from these living tissues. They regenerate from the roots or from underground features such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers.

Biennial plants differ from perennials in that they only have a two-year life cycle. They, too, stay alive underground in the winter and then in the next growing season they flower, go to seed, and die. Examples of flowering biennials include varieties of foxglove (Digitalis), hollyhock (Alcea rosea), and sweet William (Dianthus barbatus).

And then there are herbaceous evergreens. These plants are not woody but are evergreen plants with soft stems. Their leaves may remain visible during warm winters or in warmer growing zones. These include many hellebores, pulmonarias, some heucheras, epimediums, and geraniums. Hellebores, commonly known as Lenten rose, are herbaceous evergreen plants with thick, almost leathery leaves. They are prized for their early spring blooms and winter interest.

Hellebores have soft stems, but the tough, palmately arranged leaves can withstand cold weather. It’s nodding flowers, known as Lenten roses, appear in late winter or early spring and are best viewed from a very close distance. The newer cultivars have upright flowers. Deer resistant.