What is it about perennials that causes gardeners to rhapsodize?
Perennials, plants that return year after year indefinitely, offer money- and time-saving benefits, because we don’t have to keep replanting them. But something much more profound takes place when we nestle them into the soil: Our collective unconscious connects with nature, understanding at some level the reason we were placed on this Earth. By observing the life cycle of these plants — blooming, thriving, wilting and “dying,” only to be reborn the next year — we attempt to put order and meaning into our own lives. Planting perennials lets us experience a sense of optimism. And there are plenty of positive thinkers out there: 70% of U.S. households do some type of gardening, and 28.9 million households bought perennials last year. This January and February, when springlike weather cropped up in much of the country, we saw our spring bulbs and perennial plants peek through the earth at least a month earlier than usual. We welcomed them back from what felt like an endless separation.
