Perennial Any plant which lives longer than two years in its native environment. Examples include most shrubs (e.g. roses, potentillas, forsythias). Surprisingly, some plants which are commonly thought of as annuals (e.g. tomatoes) are actually perennials. This is because tomato plants will live for many years in their native environment, but in temperate areas (parts of the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) the winter cold kills them off each year. In these circumstances, they are normally referred to as "perennial grown as an annual". 

Pinching Out To pinch out, remove the very top part of a shoot by pinching it with the end of your thumb and a finger. Try to make the cut as clean as possible rather than squash it off. You can cut the growing tips off with a pair of secateurs if you can't get the hang of it with your fingers.

Take a fuchsia for example. If you buy one and just let it grow without pinching out, you will end up with a tall, leggy plant that is not bushy. But if you pinch out the growing tips regularly this will encourage more side shoots to grow and you will end up with a more bushy attractive plant.