We have various perennial flowers in our yard. Beautiful tulips arise from the winter snow in the Springtime to add colour to the season. There are pink peonies on the south side of the garage. Day lilies thrive in the east side of the house to greet the long sunny days returning in May. Parsley grows in the back corner of the house. Rose bushes keep growing each year after being cut back in the fall. All these have new growth each year on their own timing. Some perennials need only be dug up every once and awhile in order to replant and space differently.
Perennial means persisting for several years, usually with new herbaceous growth from a perennating root, living over from one growing season to another.
Perennial comes from the Latin perennis which is per (denoting throughout) plus annus meaning year). Perennial originally referred to evergreen trees and plants that remained all year round. The English language first used the word in the mid-1600s to imply plants that were present through all the seasons of the year.
The Roman poet Ovid, writing around the beginning of the first century AD, used the Latin word to refer to a perennial spring (a water source). The Latin scholar Pliny (23-27 AD) used perennial of birds that don't migrate.
Today in English, perennial has grown to include continuing with interruption or regular repetition. There are certain movies that are perennial favourites in the Christmas season, such as White Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, and yes, Die Hard. Most decent amateur golfers’ perennial quest is to shoot under par. Death and new life is a perennial literary theme.
Continual, continuous, constant, incessant, perpetual, and perennial all suggest something characterized by continued occurrence or recurrence.
Continual implies a close prolonged succession. The weather forecast predicts continual showers over the next three days.
Continuous denotes an uninterrupted flow or spatial extension. There is a continuous rivalry between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders that comes to a head around time of Labour Day weekend and the Banjo Bowl.
Constant means uniform or persistent condition. Once his back was injured due to a fall on the ice, he lived in constant pain.
Incessant implies ceaseless activity. The relatives were annoyed by the incessant quarreling between the siblings at every family event.
Perpetual suggests unfailing repetition or lasting duration. The shifting of the cement slabs of the driveway are a perpetual worry to me.
Perennial denotes enduring existence through constant renewal. The placement of the Christmas lights around the house are a perennial source of controversy.
It seems that climate change has impacted the number of days we are experiencing health impacting smoke in the air, and wildfires have become a perennial issue in the spring, summer, and fall seasons in Saskatchewan.
To avoid an annual cost for new outdoor flowers you can investigate using perennials which will die back each fall but produce new growth in the spring. Trees, shrubs, and cone-bearing plants are perennials. Most vegetative ground covering plants are perennial. Herbaceous perennials usually survive the winter season in Saskatchewan by means of underground bulbs, corms, tubers, or rhizomes. Garden perennials have a limited flowering period, but, with maintenance throughout the growing season, they provide a leafy presence for much of the season. Now if only my grass would demonstrate its perennial attributes and be lush and green all summer, that would be awesome. Happy gardening!
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to [email protected]. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
