This guide will enable you to identify weeds at three growth stages. Summer annuals complete their lifecycle from seed to maturity in less than one year. They germinate in the spring, mature, set seed and die in the fall. Winter annuals germinate in the fall, overwinter as seedlings or small rosettes and mature, set seed and die the following spring or early summer. Some weeds are capable of both the summer and winter annual lifecycle.
Biennials complete their lifecycles in less than two years.
Germination and the production of an overwintering rosette of leaves occur the first year. The second year, flowering, seed production , and plant death occur. Control is best obtained during the first year. Perennials live for more than two years. They reproduce vegetatively from roots, rhizomes, buds, or tillers, or from seed, or both.