Annual Plants

An annual is a plant that matures in one season. Herbaceous blooming plants with just the dormant seed surviving from season to season are called annuals. While many annuals are summer or winter annuals, a growth season may not match the four conventional seasons. Summer annuals germinate in spring or early summer and produce seeds in late summer or fall. Winter annuals germinate in late summer or fall and produce seed before dying in spring or summer. Some desert annuals emerge and go to seed within a few weeks after a shower and spend most of their life cycle as seeds in a soil seed bank. Weeds, wildflowers, garden flowers, and vegetables are annuals.