mulch love your white Shirley.
What Poppies Will You Grow This Year?
Oh all those poppies are just beautiful. Can hardly wait to grow mine, thank you all for sharing your lovely photos.
Connie
Mulchmania, I have a question for you. First I would like to say I'am a new member as of yesterday. I'am not one to spend much time on computers, so I have been a lurker for a few years on the gardenweb forum. I have tried to lurk here, but could not lurk far without becoming a member. I hate to admit I was on this site for hours yesterday after signing up. I even had a hard time getting to sleep because I kept rearranging my gardens and plants, and figuring out what plants to buy this year ect. in my mind before finally dropping off.
My question is can I sow poppy seeds directly in the garden. If so, what kind, when, and how would you do it. I especially like the shirley and iceland poppies. I'am also in Montana (Libby) with the same zone, maybe a little warmer. Thanks
Hi cchjja, (now there's an interesting moniker) I am happy to see another Montanan. Happily poppies like it here in this climate, at least the ones you are talking about.
When I am starting a new bed of shirleys I like to get it tilled, composted, whatever I am going to do to it, preferably in the fall. Then I broadcast the teensy little seeds, often directly on the snow, and they sprout in the spring when it is still moist with snow melt, rain, etc. They come up ridiculously early when allowed to do so, and they do fine that way.
In real life I have not often gotten things ready in the fall. Which means I wait until I can dig the dirt after it has dried out enough not to be muck. This is unfortunate because when I scatter the seeds I have a real project on my hands keeping them wet. The seeds are so tiny that when they first begin to germinate, drying out for any time at all is lethal to them. I am convinced this, or getting the wee seeds covered so they cannot come up, are the biggest reasons for failure in getting poppies started. So I am out there sprinkling the bed really often on sunny windy days when the top layer dries out nearly instantaneously. If you can keep them wet on that thin surface long enough to send roots down, they will make it. Miss a beat and they are little shriveled messes.
Iceland poppies I start in the greenhouse and set out after frost danger is over, around June 1. That way they can bloom the first year.
I mulch the poppies as they grow up, which helps hold moisture in the soil, encourages earthworms, etc. I primarily use green grass clippings because they are the first (and about the only) thing I found I could spread and not have blow away immediately that will still decompose into the soil. The poppies will self seed in this mulch if you do not put too much green material on later in the summer, allow it to start decomposing, and not have it too thick. Getting the thick enough/not too thick balance is a matter of practice. Partially decomposed grass clippings do not inhibit germination like green grass clippings do.
Another thing to keep in mind is poppies do like it sunny.
And I see nothing wrong with spending a chunk of time gathering information on such a richly stocked site as this one and then figuring out how to apply it to your own garden. What on earth is January for, anyway? ;-)
I bought a jar of Opium Poppies at the store 3.5 ounces for $1.99. I also saw a 3 ounce jar at a discount store for $0.99. They grew too.
Mulchmania, thank you for your detailed answer! I think I will sow them on the snow closer to spring because the place I want them has a hill of snow covering them. I agree with the moniker, it is not what I wanted and am going to change it. I will let you know what I change it to as soon as I find out how to change it. I made a mistake signing up and put my pass word instead. Thanks again and have a great day.
You are more than welcome, hope it helps. Show us pics of your poppies when they get going, and do keep us posted on your name!
I'm sure you've noticed my new name. DigMontana
Hey, that's a great name! And they changed it backwards through all the postings, cool.
I will be growing alot of the peony poppies this year.Black peony is one of them.I like the singles and peony poppies the best. I like alot of color in my poppy bed.This has been fun enjoying!all the poppy photos.Lets keep the photos coming.Here is a photo of a flemish antique poppy.
This is one of my favorite poppies I grew last summer.
Hello all. I've been away from Dave's for a while, and come back to find a poppy forum! I love poppies. We have a few native poppies here that I like to grow - our California poppy, of course, my favorite the matillija, and another I found last year at the hardware store but can't remember the name of. Enjoying all the pictures and paintings (my gosh!). Here's one of mine from last year. Hopefully the offshoots we transplanted will take so we can spread these around.
Kathleen
Kathleen:Your matillija poppy is pretty!I like the color.
Thanks, Skimper - I love the texture. The flowers are so delicate, like a fine crepe, but the plants are big (up to 8 ft) and hardy. They really make a statement in the garden! There's a ranch nearby that has loads of them planted by their front gate and I drive by just to see them.
Kathleen
oh Kathleen, those mantillija poppies are gorgeous...I wonder if they would grow in zone 5a?
jerseyridgearts, I'm not sure about the matilija in 5a - they are funny plants. They're big an tough looking, but have these large but oh so delicate flowers. They are darn near impossible to grow from seed, unless you can burn them and freeze them a few times. They spread underground, but half the time if you move the sprouts, they won't thrive! OTOH, I've heard they grow them in England, so who knows? They are worth some research, IMO. Ours survived a week or so of temps in the 20s this winter without a trace of damage.
Kathleen