fountain grass "Red Bunny Tails"

Plants for destinctively sunny sites need and tolerate a lot of direct sun radiation (eg. roses, even more spurge (euphorbia myrsinites) , sea buckthorn, sedum, most of rock-garden plants, cactuses etc). Mostly, but not necessarily, these plants can also tolerate drought. Roses need more water and noursihments and rich, deep, fetile soil, while white stonecrop survives more weeks in dry soil without rain or watering and can grow normally in poor, sandy soil as well.

Herbaceous plants are not woody. Their stems are soft, usually remaining green. With some herabceous older stems may harden and look like woody stems (e. g. bamboo).

The plant develops new leaves or needles every spring, which dropp off in autumn. Herbaceous plants can die completely in above ground section and grow back in the spring.

Plant is cold/frost sensitive, mainly cannot survive temperature below freezing point (0 °C) or requires significantly higher temperature to live (e. g. some tropical plants). Required minimal temperatures for certain plants are given in detailed descriptions.

Porous or dry soils are normally light and loose, there is no stagnant water but relatively quickly flows in deeper layers; such ground are more airy and warmer, yet drier and usually contain less humus and for such undergrowth it is often to for drought to appear (e. g. rockgardens, walls, by paths and roads, on gravel, also on gravel surface in towns and close to buildings ...), plants of such undergrowth need well-drained soil, they tolerate drought but cannot tolerate constant moisture or even flooding.

Herbaceous plant, finishing its life cycle in one year. Some annuals can overwintwer as seedlings and produce flowers the following year. Annuals normally bloom only one season.

Leaves or needles of many deciduos plants change colour in autumn before falling mostly to yellow, orange and red shades. Distinctive autumn red or similar colouration may also appear in some evergreen plants, which leaves/needels do not fall off in autumn. Autumn coloration depends on general condition of a plant, maintanance, weather and site. Usually leaves colour more intensely if dry autumn and if differences between day and night temperatures are greater, as well as on dry, sandy soils with less nitrogen. Among grown ornamental plants there are numerous varieties with especially intense or diverse autumn colour than by the basic species.