When is the best time to move Oriental Poppies? I know they don't like to be moved at all, but I'd like to move one plant that just finished flowering. I live in the CO mountains (zone 4a) at very high altitude. We have a very short season.
BTW, this is the first time I'm posting on DG. I've been looking at all your beautiful pictures for a while now.
Moving Oriental Poppies
good question, and welcome to DG. I also have some that I want to move or get rid of . They are huge orange, floppy and messy. I want to plant something else there, maybe a different poppy, not necessarily orientals. I know they really dislike movement, but I have dug up small clumps with a fair amount of dirt and moved them successfully. Too bad I now would like to simply dispose of them. lol
I have moved oriental poppies successfully when they are very small & young, and sometimes not-so-successfully when they are bigger. The more established they are, the deeper the roots go & the harder they are to move - but it can be done. The key is to dig deeeep, get lots of the surrounding soil, and avoid disturbing the roots as much as possible.
As to what time of year to do it, it's probably best to wait until fall when the days are not so hot (tho I never can - I'm always digging stuff up when I shouldn't) but then again, your days are not as hot up there as mine are...
Good luck!
Thank you lisabees. The poppy was only planted last summer, so I shouldn't have to dig too deep. But I will definitely try to follow your advice about not disturbing the roots. And right now may be the best time to move it. We're having cool, rainy afternoons. Not typical of July. My fall is very short and winter can come very quickly. So, I think I'd better move the poppy now. I was mainly concerned about moving it just after flowering. Not sure why. Thank you for your advice.
mstella, thank you for your welcome. I wonder why your poppies are so floppy and messy.
Beats me. Maybe just the kid they are. Big orange ones. I want to trade them out for big red ones that seem to have stronger stems. Or maybe it is the soil? Either way, I don't like them anymore.
Welcome to DG. It is best to move poppies when they are dormant, which is sometime around August here. All the foliage should have died back. It is hard to dig all the roots on a big plant. I usually interplant my poppies with a summer flowering plants, like daylilies, so that they fill in the bare spots when the poppies go dormant.
Busy Gardener,
I was wondering about moving them during dormancy. If they are dormant they can't really get resettled in their new place, right? I guess that's why we have to move them in such a way that they don't know they are being moved.
Interesting thought about moving plants "when they know they're being moved." I'm going to post a new thread about this in the perennials forum.
LAS
This message was edited Jul 11, 2011 10:40 AM
LAS14,
sounds like an interesting topic. I will follow you and the thread to the perennial forum. I'm sure the answer is "it depends...." on the plant, the weather, the season, etc. Glad you thought of it as a topic because sometimes I kill plants when I move them and some they don't mind at all.
Anne
Okay, I looked on the Perennial forum and did not find this information. My "guess" is by moving the plant while it is dormant IS moving the plant while it is "asleep" and doesn't know it has been moved. It would be the same as moving it with a lot of soil around it etc. If someone has found more info about this, please direct me.
I planted some O. Poppies this spring and for the First Time, I finally got them to grow. Then, I had the plumber put in a hydrant in this garden, and they completely destroyed everything that is in that garden. My husband tilled in a bale of peat moss also. So, the soil has been stirred a lot. I have left this garden alone hoping tubers, seeds, roots, would grow back. After two months, I have about 8 poppies coming up. Of course, not where I had them planted and not where I would like to have them. I don't know which poppies they are. I planted Iceland Poppies and O. Poppies in this garden. I "think" they are O. Poppies. The leaves are very coarse and dark green. I "think" the I. Poppy leaves are a lighter color and I am not sure they even return. These poppies look quite healthy and are about 8 and10 in. in diameter.
WOW I really havnt heard of a "new seedling" problem like this.
I would hate to give you the wrong advise. If it was me I would move half to where you want them and see what happens. Then wait until next summer and if the remaining have grown,bloomed and gone dorment I would move them to where you want them.
I hope someone is able to give firmer answer.
I have both types planted in one bed. I have dug up the Orientals (dark fuzzy ones) and had success. You just have to get a fair amount of dirt with the roots. And these were babies that were crowding the parents. The icelandic are a bit of a different animal. Of course you know that their leaves, as you said, are lighter and not as course. I have tried to move them without much success. They simply don't seem to have much of a root mass. Almost as if they sit on top of the soil, which if you think about where they come from may make sense. I pulled up all my orientals except Princess Victoria Louise, but didn't dig them up. Now I have a fine crop coming up from the roots. I suspect you will have a huge bed of the orientals as they sound like they got chopped up pretty well. I would also think that you may even have icelandic.
I have started the fall process of saving seeds from those poppies I want to reseed, including yellow icelandic, and one called Garden Gnome that is similar but a little larger with somewhat varigated shades. Also all the yellow, but not orange. Of course Audrey Grape is now lavender, singles, doubles, mixed with the single reds to be a deep dark red with black edging. I have given up trying to keep them apart (well, not really). The bees merrily cross polinate to guarantee new interesting flowers every year.
mstella, I have the annual peony poppies come from seed every year. I love all the different colors that show up and it's so fun to see what turns up.
Thank you for confirming the Iceland poppy leaf. I was trying to recall the difference between the I. Poppy and the O. Poppy. The plants that show up now are the darker leaf, and must be the Oriental Poppies. Should I be seeing the Iceland poppies now? or perhaps next Spring? If it's suppose to be now, I fear they are goners.
Would it be better to wait to move these Oriental Poppies until they are either:
A. Dormant with soil
B. Now, with soil.
C. Wait until next year when they are better established and perhaps re-seed.
I almost think I will wait as I have tried to grow Oriental Poppies for years, and this is the first time I have some. I am pretty anxious about moving them.
Considering your situation, I would wait til next year. No way of knowing how badly the roots got damaged. I haven't dug mine up yet, and really need to or I will have the same huge bed come next spring. They really are very hardy. As for the icelandic, no telling. depending on where the seeds ended up. You would think that some of them would have landed up top. Since you aren't going to disturb the orientals you have nothing to lose by waiting. Of course, you could just help them along and throw a batch of seeds on top this fall. Good luck.
My husband says my garage looks like an opium growers dream. I have bunches of poppies hanging from the storage racks with bags on them to catch seed. If they all mature, I could probably cover the entire United States. lol. And I had one tiny yellow meconopsis that survived my terrible WS experiment and grew from seed.
I just harvested seed from my hanging plants.
I plan to cover the garden with compost this winter and will experiment to see if direct sowing on it will produce any poppies.
I will also clear areas where I definatly want seeds sown for annuals .
mstella, thanks again for your advice. I think I will leave them until next year.
I just really like the poppies, and it would be great if I could get some other species to grow as well as my annuals and the O. Poppies. Do I sound greedy? :)
The goldfinch love the poppy seeds.
I would be happy to send a mix of seed. I have tried very hard to keep the colors apart by attaching labels on strings as they blossom so you should have a variety, although mostly they run, purple, lavender, pink with darker centers. Did get some white from another DG'r. I have old seed from last year but am going to throw it out as I have new seed for all colors this year. Dmail me your address and I would be glad to send some samples.
Here is the harvest. Still have about six bunches on the floor I have to hang. I have one type, at least I think it is just one, that has pods (maybe half dozen) the size of golf balls. cannot imagine the volume of seeds in those monsters.
This message was edited Aug 8, 2011 12:15 PM
Those look fantastic. I am so excited for you.
You have many more than I do. I had maybe 4 bagged bunches and the pods were the size of peas. It was a bad spring here.
WOW is all I can say. They should poppy the whole state.Just exagerating LOL
Not by much. I am more than willing to share. These would be all fresh from this year. Just dmail me where to mail them.
Are you going to leave the others with out bags? Looks like a lot of lost seeds there.
No. I just was rather overwhelmed with cutting them down, snapping off the dirt and roots. Will bag the remainder today. Will also hang the remaining 7-8 bunches that are on the floor and bag them. So do you just shake the bags to determine when it is time to take a bunch down? I have never done it this way before. Have hung them and just watched them like a hawk until the pod drys and I can see the little holes appear that would let the seeds out. I opened one pod of white poppies (before they were entriely dry) and the seeds were a pale beige color. Not like the ones that turn brown or black when they are very immature, which is a whitish color.
I leave the pods bagged until fall to be sure the seeds have maturd. I am not positive but I think immature seeds dont bloom or thats the reason my poppies were so small this year.
When its time to unbag the seeds I shake the bag ,you can hear the seeds in the bottom of the bag.
They do get a few dead leaves in them and I am sure there must be a clever way to sift dead matter out of the seeds but I have never dealt with as many seeds as you have.
I continue to store the seeds in paper bags.Its important to keep the seeds dry so they dont mold.
I am so jealous of your crop. You certainly are doing something right.
I don't know what. Some of the seed I just scattered last year, mostly the purple and lavender. Some I think sowed itself. some I sowed in containers and when they blew all over, just sort of resettled and waited til something grew them just grabbed a bit and planted them in other containers, then into the garden. Maybe it is just that our weather is conducive to poppies. I will stop trying to push it though and let them mature in the bags. Heavens knows even if I throw away what I have gotten thus far I will have more. I have a lot of the purple, lavender type. Less of the white, type. And one or two bunches that I ended up with two tags where the plants must have mixed together at the tops and I didn't notice that they were two seperate plants at the bottom. Only a couple of those.
Did the oriental poppy transplant work?
This is when they are putting up their winter crowns. I moved one in early August when it was dying back.
I just noticed winter growth. I also noted groth from pieces of root left behind in the spot where I took the plant from..
Between August and September is the best time to move Oriental Poppies in zones 4 and 5 (I'm not sure about 6, but you can probably move them even later). When they are dormant (you don't see any growth) is best, but you can move them when they are just starting to grow. Dig deep though to get the roots. I once moved some poppies, and the next year I had so many more poppies where I originally dug from. Poppies can be propagated from a small piece of cut root. That's why you end up with plants even though you dug them up and moved them.
I can't believe we got a frost two nights ago. It's way too early (almost two to three weeks too early). I haven't taken any cuttings yet, or brought houseplants in. We had temperatures in the 80s last week.
Holy Cow! How in the world can you have 80's one day and frost the next. I thought Fairbanks was wierd. We have had 100 degree swings over two days up there.
It definatly is getting colder here. Night temps went from 70's to 50's and mid 40's in a matter of weeks.
Mums are responding and opening.
Anyone know what the longterm winter forecast is?
I think I will dig up my mums. Planted them last year. No flowers then. Now the plants are about 36" tall and no flowers. It is a gamble if they will blossom before freeze up. If so, I will dig them up and pitch them. I don't have room to devote to non-flowering stuff, even if the reason is that we don't have a long enough growing season. Too bad as the bushes are very healthy.
Up here, the moose are dropping twins. This is supposed to presage a bad winter as two babies allows for the lose of one to a bad winter, with one surviver. Could be nonsense.
Oberon46, I don't understand how you live in a little bit warmer zone than I do (I think that I really am a zone 4). Isn't Alaska colder than Wisconsin? My mums are flowering away. They love these cool sunny days. I thought their flowering had to do with shorter days, but am not sure. Don't waste your time and space on plants that don't flower for you.
Yeah. I am so bummed. I had several phlox that were supposed to bloom - really tall ones. Not paniculata, they do just fine up here, but while they had big bushes, same problem- no flowers. I don't understand either. This is their second year in the garden, and I waited three years on the phlox then dug them all up. I will give these guys til freezeup, then I am not waiting another year.
Leaves are falling here, it was 47F outside this morning. That's okay. I am getting on a plane for Hawaii in about three hours.
What is the phlox called that is quite tall?
Phlox paniculata? there are short varieties too.
Really, the only two I know of are Phlox paniculata and Phlox sublata. P. sublata blooms mid spring and is a ground cover. P. paniculata is about 30 to 36" and blooms in mid summer. You had mentioned you had some Phlox that had not bloomed, and they were the "tall ones, not the paniculata". So, I thought maybe there was a phlox out there that was even taller than the P. paniculata. I thought I was missing something. There may be Phlox that are taller out there, but I don't know of them.
How is Hawaii? Lucky you!
A few other phlox I have grown are p. maculata, is shorter than paniculata and bloom is a bit earlier. Also have grown p. divaricata, woodland phlox, is 12", blooms in the spring, a spreader and is fragrant. Love phlox, yummy fragrance. Kathy
Thanks, warrior for the info on the phlox. Phlox here gets mildew real bad. They bloom well, but the leaves look bad.
My poppies that are a fore mentioned, never did go "dormant".
Birder....I know we're a bit off the topic (sorry others,lol). One of the best mildew resistant is David and probably David Purple (new this year I think).
Thanks Warrior on the phlox. I had David paniculata (white) but my husband took a tiller to that garden and it's gone. I had heard that one was the most mildew resistant.
My husband killed mine with the stuff he put on the sidewalk to melt ice. :(
Hubbies! Man! Aren't they great?? :)