The 1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, and 3rd year they leap.
Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?
I’m talking about plants. Specifically, I’m quoting an old gardening adage that goes: “the first year plants sleep, the second year they creep, the third year the leap.”
Learning Some Garden Wisdom
I hadn’t heard this phrase until 2019. That’s when I was serving as a freelance journalist for a Tampa Bay media group. I happened to be covering a story on local gardeners who were creating pollinator gardens.
One of the people I interviewed for this article was Kai Kai Chang, a horticultural assistant at University of South Florida (USF) Botanical Gardens in Tampa. I walked alongside her as she was tending to the garden. She was sharing thoughts and advice on what pollinators need to thrive. I was taking notes as the media group’s photographer was snapping photos of Chang working the botanical gardens.
Then Chang turned to me and told me something that has stuck in my head ever since our interview. She was talking about people who plant perennials and often grow dissatisfied with the results after only a couple months. “Most of all you’ve got to be patient,” she said. “The first year after planting perennials and other plants they ‘sleep.’ By year three, they ‘leap’!”
I walked away with a steno pad full of quotes and other notes from our interview. And I had to look up that maxim Chang dropped… “First year […] plants sleep. By year three, they leap.” I knew what she was talking about but had never heard this expression before.
Getting To The Root Of The Matter
I come to find out, it was a paraphrasing of what apparently is a very popular quote: “The 1st year plants sleep, the 2nd year they creep, and the 3rd year they leap.”
Ah, OK… Essentially it describes the growth of a plant as it establishes its place. And I get how it really only applies to perennials. Annuals typically germinate, grow, flower, set seed, and die all within one growing season.
But I wanted to know more. What’s the science behind sleep, creep, leap? And how come it takes about three years for plants to really start zooming off?
I reached out to Tia Silvasy, who serves as a residential horticulture and master gardener volunteer coordinator at the Hillsborough County extension of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). I knew she’d have the answer behind this!
“This old adage is not necessarily represented in Florida because of our year-round climate here many plants grow quickly even after their first couple months,” she says. “The reasoning in the saying refers to the plant-establishment period where after the plant is planted, it doesn’t grow much or sleeps. The second year (or phase of establishment) the plant puts its energy into root growth. Once the roots are well established, then the plant puts its resources into leaves, flowers, and fruit – it leaps.”
Plants Sleep, Then Creep, Then Leap — If Given The Opportunity!
Ah ha! That explains why it seems to take so long for new plants to start filling out and growing tall. Even in my sunny yard in Central Florida, it can take a while to get things going with new plantings. This goes for planting a tree, putting new shrubs in, or establishing just about anything else in the landscape.
What this also tells me is I need to make sure that I’m really watering those new plants well enough. I certainly should be soaking them for longer than just a couple weeks as so many information guides may suggest. If the roots aren’t enmeshed in and acclimated to their new environs, the plant can’t thrive. This goes for everything from perennial wildflowers to tree saplings and pretty much everything in between.
Silvasy told me if I wanted to find out more about the science behind the adage 1st year plants sleep, 2nd year they creep, and 3rd year they leap there’s information UF/IFAS has on the topic. More specifically, this guide on plant growth is about establishing plants in your yard. I recommend you check it out when you have the chance!
Meanwhile, I hope your sleeping plants are soon leaping!