Poppies 101 Question...

Hello All.

I have decided to grow poppies in my garden this year. I have sprouted four different types in 4" peat pots. The seedlings about an inch tall and are pretty dense in the pots, i.e. 8 - 12 per pot. Do I really need to thin them down to one per pot, or do they do well in small clumps with several per pot? Any advice you can offer this novice poppy grower will be sincerely appreciated.

Thank you,

Erick

My experience has been that poppies hate to be messed with, and the only time I had luck with them was sowing them directly into the garden. Once you grow poppies, you will always have poppies. They reseed well. :)

Since you already started them in peat pots, I would thin out some of them, and try to plant the pots by cutting the bottoms off and leave them as intact as much as possible.

Thank you very much, Joan, for the most helpful advice. I appreciate the time that you took to share it with me.

ERick

You can still direct sow some outside for later bloom. I've read to toss seeds out every 2-3 weeks or so for the first month and a half to stagger bloomtimes and have a longer season of color. Hope this helps :)

Thank you hugahosta. That's good advice that I will take!

Erick

Erick, I start poppies in peat pots almost every year. I usually thin mine to 3 per pot. If your outer leaves start to yellow a lot, get them in the ground quickly. Then I usually cover them with a plastic hot cap for a few days until they become established. You will be surprised how quickly they come along. Lots of luck & look forward to seeing your poppy pix.

edited to add: I always deadhead mine to keep them going til about the middle of Aug & then I let them go to seed.

This message was edited May 20, 2005 10:40 PM

As Broots said, I'm hoping to be able to deadhead the ones I sowed in containers and keep them going through much of the summer w/o sowing more :) The successive sowing method is great, though, for scattering the poppies through an established bed as a filler plant... kinda tricky to deadhead that many poppies spread out amongst all your perennials. Easier to just sow at several times throughout the summer :) Glad I could pass the idea along!

Take care,
Huga

Thank you broots and hugahosta for more great advice! Know that it is appreciated. I look forward to sharing poppy pics with you later this summer!

Erick

Just saw this Erik,I seem to have better luck just direct sowing. The ones I've tried to pot-start have been the more temperamental Meconopsis, and they never did well around here. If you want a good book on Poppies look for "Poppies, The poppy family in the wild and in cultivation" by Christopher Grey-Wilson. Timber Press. ISBN 0 88192 503 9. Best of luck with your poppies. They come in so many variations. All of the following are just re-seeds and natural cross pollination.

In the same clump.

Another color variation..

some are quite different.

These are gorgeous. I have a few seedlings coming up with that silver foliage (so different from Shirley poppies) and now I wish I'd ordered more colors.

Thank you, balvenie, for the good recommendation and the gorgeous pictures!

Erick

Great pix balvenie. Are they this year's crop?

All this season but the white.Haven't seen a repeat of it yet.

another poppy question???? do i need to pinch back the poppies leaves? like i do with my dahlia's, chrysanthemums, etc.....
thanks,
debi z and franklin

I've never heard of a reason to pinch back poppy leaves. Removing old browned leaves on Oriental poppies keeps them neater, and I cut the leaves back in the Fall.

thanks balvenie.

How did you make out with these Erick?

Hello Sequee.

How nice to hear from you! My poppies did VERY well last year - gorgeous flowers! Now I have them everywhere in my garden this year. I don't mind a bit. Thank you for asking!

Regards,

Erick

Great news Erick. How about some pictures ?

This is my favorite, Poppy 'Danish Flag'.

Erick

That's a beauty. have you had any others this year ? Last year this one came up as a stray and has bloomed again this year. Hope I can get some viable seed from it.

Wow, balvenie. That is a stunning poppy!

The poppies in my garden are just beginning to put out buds. It's still early in the season for us here in Minnesota! I'm looking forward to a good show soon.

Erick