[sion01]

Im totally confussed.I thought foxgloves were biennial or annual if sown early.The same applied I thought to californian poppys but according to the plants my wife bought at the garden centre they are perennial.If they are perennial how are the foxglove and californian poppy seeds I planted last week marked as biennial on the packet.If they are biennial surely the nurserys are coning the public.

While im on the subject what about verbena bonariensis,sold as a perennial but I only get two years out of mine .Biennial or perennial?

And another one i've seen advertised as perennial in a well known gardening companys catalogue is sweet william ,surely this is a biennial? Isn't this breaking the trade discription law.Surely you cant call a plant a short lived perennial when it only lifes for two years,in my book thats a biennial.

[Yorkie]

A biennial grows leaves in year one and flowers in year two.

A short lived perennial will flower in both years but may only last a couple of years.

Without going into the specific details of the plants you mention, that is a possible explanation rather than simply accusing stores of lying 

[mumofstig]

Californian Poppy is a perennial in it's native california, but will probably not be in this country, it is usually sown every year as an annual, but will selfseed.
Verbena Bonariensis is classed as a short lived perrennial in this country for the same reason, some winters are just too cold for it, and weaken it. Saying that mine did come through last winter just. It will also self seed where it is happy.
Digitalis the common foxglove is a biennial, and will self seed. Some Digitalis are perennial and interbreeding for new colours and bigger flowers gives a very mixed biennial/perennial choice of varieties. Some of these do not self seed.
Erysimum (wallflowers) were in the past regarded as biennial, but some of the never colours and varieties are short lived perennial.
I hope this helps....but things are never clear cut

[sion01]

global moderators are wise

[madcat]

And scary!   

[Yorkie]

Flattery will get you everywhere nowhere 

[hamstergbert]

Flattery will get you everywhere nowhere 

Isn't that Chinese stamp-collecting?

[Yorkie]