Biennial Plants: Complete Guide with Flowering and Vegetable Lists

Biennials complete their life cycle over two growing seasons, rewarding patient gardeners with spectacular blooms and harvests. In year one, they form a low rosette of leaves; in year two, they bolt, flower, set seed, and die. Many self-sow readily, creating perpetual displays once established.

Key Characteristics

• Late-season growth at ground level, continuing into spring
• Bloom late spring through summer on tall spikes
• Prolific seed production; seedlings emerge late summer to fall
• Develop complex flower structures and grazing resistance during long growth period

Popular Biennial Flowering Plants

Notable Varieties

• Angelica: 6-foot architectural plants with greenish-white flowers; culinary and medicinal uses
• Black-eyed Susan: 3+ feet, golden petals with dark centers; aggressive spreaders
• California Poppy: 12 inches, colorful blooms that close at night/rain
• Canterbury Bells: 3 feet, cup-and-saucer flowers in pink, white, purple, blue
• Clary Sage: 4 feet, fragrant, white/pink/mauve/violet; great border plant
• Common Mullein: 10-foot spikes, golden yellow flowers; grows anywhere
• Delphinium: Up to 20 feet, storybook-perfect spikes in pink, white, purple, blue
• Dusty Miller: 3 feet, silver foliage, deer-resistant, drought-tolerant
• Evening Primrose: Lemon-scented, bright yellow 4-petaled flowers
• Forget-Me-Not: 8 inches, delicate sky-blue (also white/pink); prefers cool, moist shade
• Foxglove: Tall spikes, blue/white/pink; needs rich, moist, well-drained soil
• Hollyhock: 8 feet, red/yellow/white/pink/violet; classic cottage garden plant
• Lunaria (Honesty/Money Plant): Translucent coin-like seed pods; fragrant blue/pink/white flowers
• Pansy: 3 inches, vast color range; Viola genus
• Queen Anne's Lace (Wild Carrot): 4-5 feet, white/pink flowers; historical medicinal uses
• Sweet William: Few inches tall, spicy clove-cinnamon fragrance, bright pink/red/white
• Viola: 12 inches, violet/blue/yellow with dark green foliage
• Wallflower: 3 feet, yellow/orange 4-petaled flowers; native to Southern Europe
• Yellow Horned Poppy: Silky petals with long curved seed pods; gray-green fuzzy leaves

Biennial Vegetables

Many common vegetables are biennials grown as annuals for their edible roots or leaves:

• Beetroots
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbages
• Caraways
• Carrots
• Onions
• Celery
• Parsley
• Parsnips
• Silver-beet (Swiss chard)
• Turnips

Growing Tip

Plant biennials where they can self-seed for continuous yearly displays. Allow some plants to set seed, and you'll enjoy volunteer seedlings each season—nature's way of perennializing these two-year wonders.