A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its lifecycle.
In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots and then it goes dormant and stops growing over the winter months. These plants often have arosette of low growing growth by now. Many biennials need this cold spell or they will not flower at all. During the next spring or summer, the stem of the biennial plant shoots up or bolts and the plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies. There are far fewer biennials than either perennial plants or annual plants. Lots of veg such as the radish and cabbage are grown as annuals so we can harvest them when they are short and leafy, as we do not want them to shoot up and seed. A radish life cycle ids shown on the left
A good example of a biennial flowering plant in the garden is a lupin.
In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots and then it goes dormant and stops growing over the winter months. These plants often have arosette of low growing growth by now. Many biennials need this cold spell or they will not flower at all. During the next spring or summer, the stem of the biennial plant shoots up or bolts and the plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies. There are far fewer biennials than either perennial plants or annual plants. Lots of veg such as the radish and cabbage are grown as annuals so we can harvest them when they are short and leafy, as we do not want them to shoot up and seed. A radish life cycle ids shown on the left
A good example of a biennial flowering plant in the garden is a lupin.