Knowing what the life cycle of the plant you want to put in your garden is critical for garden planting. Putting perennials in the middle of your annual vegetable beds could be a frustrating thing when it comes time to clean up your beds. And what if you need to till? Having to work around that asparagus you put in the middle of the row of the middle of the garden would be pretty silly. Knowing what you have means you can plan to plant for optimum efficiency, and the least amount of waste.