The most important annual plants. Examples of use in agriculture and landscape design

There are field, vegetable and ornamental crops that begin and end their life cycle during one growing season. This is a large and important group of organisms - annual plants. Examples: many cereals (wheat, rye), legumes (beans, soybeans), vegetables and melons (tomato, cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon). What are the annuals? To find out the answer, we will make a correspondence botanical walk through the gardens and fields, getting acquainted with ordinary and unusual vegetables, flowers, spices and tenacious weeds.

Variety of plants

People use a lot of living organisms that live on the ground. Our neighbors on the planet are green algae, mosses, higher spore, holo- and angiospermous plants. Humanity needs all these groups, they find industrial, agricultural, food, medical applications, have cognitive and aesthetic significance.

Among the representatives of the flora are perennial, biennial and annual plants. Examples:

• Perennials: apple, peach, grapes, lemon and other shrubs, lianas and trees.
• Biennial plants: white cabbage, turnips, beets, carrots, three-color violet.
• Annuals: tomato, pepper, balsam, wormwood, St. John's wort, chamomile, aster.

Length of life cycle

Depending on climatic conditions and cultivation purposes, the life expectancy of agricultural and ornamental plants varies. If the climatic conditions are severe, then the growth of vegetables, flowers and grasses can be limited to one vegetation period.

In the gardens and flower beds of the central Russia, a large group of perennials are grown as annual plants: asters, lion's oint , Turkish carnation, nasturtium, petunia, verbena, lobelia. These beautifully flowering decorative cultures will not survive the frosty winter.

Many biennials for root crops are grown for 1 year. So, celery and parsley in the first season form a rosette of juicy leaves, and in the second year bloom.

Many annuals play an important role in nutrition, production and treatment. Examples: winter wheat, soybean, cotton, mustard, flax, calendula. After flowering, the formation of fruits and seeds, the aboveground and underground parts die, only seeds that are carried by the wind, water, animals and man are preserved.

What are annual plants? Examples

With the inadvertent transfer of plants to a new habitat, curious cases are associated. Plantain from Europe "traveled" to the American continent along with mud on the soles of the shoes of white immigrants. Aborigines called large green leaves "traces of white man."

At the end of the XVII century in a stuffed bird, stuffed with grass, from overseas to Europe was an annual herbaceous plant - Canadian small-petrel. Over time, this malicious weed spread to the vast expanses of Europe and Asia, found in the Far East.

There are plants that are dangerous to public health and agriculture, for example, wormwood ragweed. Pollen of small nondescript flowers causes allergy and bronchial asthma, seeds contaminate the crop of crops. Struggle against ambrosia is difficult, because on one shoot annually from 180 000 to 300 000 seeds ripen, they are carried over long distances.

Application of annuals in agriculture

The cold climate, permafrost in the circumpolar regions of Eurasia and North America limit the set of cultivated plants. Agriculture in these areas is possible in conditions of greenhouses and heated greenhouses. In a cool climate, you can grow cereals, some vegetables and root vegetables. A moderate belt is the vast expanses of Europe in Asia, the central part of North America. For mass agriculture in these regions, grains, legumes, technical crops and vegetables and melons are used.

In the southern part of the temperate zone and in the subtropics, the more thermophilic species of agricultural plants are cultivated. This is corn, rice, cotton, sweet pepper, eggplant, watermelon, melon. Significant value for industry and population are oilseeds, essential oil and spicy annual plants, the names of which are familiar to many. This is sunflower, amaranth, mustard, rape, anise, oregano, wormwood, sage.

Decorative annuals - a find for the florist and summer resident

Are widely used in horticulture, landscape design, beautifully flowering and decorative-deciduous annuals. These plants are suitable for cutting - for bouquets and baskets of fresh flowers, floral compositions. Perfectly feel on flowerbeds, in containers and flowerpots adorning balconies, petunias with large bright flowers.

Marigolds, zinnias and asters sometimes outshine roses with their magnificent inflorescences. Coleuses and kochis are pleased with fresh colors of leaves. Giants among low and middle-aged annuals in orchards - castor oil and amaranth; The height of individual specimens can reach 2 m.

Annual ornamental plants on flower beds and in containers

The main advantage of annual plants is that the landscape designers call the possibility to change the color gamut, as well as other important characteristics of the flower beds, every year. Annual plants greatly facilitate the creation of multi-level and island flower beds, broccoli, mixborders and curbs.

Examples of the most common in landscape design are annuals: petunia. Astra, tagetes or marigold, antirrinum or snapdragon, ageratum, helenium, arctotis, cynia, gypsophila graceful, calendula, cabbage decorative, rudbeckia.

In indoor culture, an annual or biennial calceolaria plant becomes popular. In pots, containers and pendant pots, the bright flowers of lobelia, nasturtiums, tunbergia against the background of graceful stems and green foliage look wonderful. Among annual plants there are fragrant: gillyflowers, sweet-scented tobacco, reseda, sweet peas. Medicinal properties are sage, echinacea.

Annuals are easy to grow from seeds, the seedlings of these plants usually get well when transplanted from greenhouses and containers into the open ground.