Zone 6 Oriental Poppy start

That seems like a good method. I will try that! It would ensure that the poppies don't get damaged when transplanted.

yes since they hate to be transplanted and this way they dont need to be and if you really think about how they propogate on their own they bloom in may and seeds are ready by end of july or early august and they seeds germinate late summer and grow then bloom the next year that is the natural cycle of these plants and we are changing it that is why are successes and failures more the latter since we are trying to change the natural process

Mona, When do you plant you seeds that you direct sow outdoors?

it depends on what they are arctic poppies can be just spread in the early spring do not cover since they need light to germinate and those are the ones that you see on ebay that has like a 1000 seeds for a couple of bucks

california poppies which come in many colors and are just beautifull as reseeding annuals should be done in the mid spring when the soil starts to warm up they will bloom end of june to frost and will reseed since they are low plants they look amazing anywhere and I never pull any out where ever they decide to grow I leave them since I tried to move a couple and they just died being poppies hahah they do not like being moved

actual annual poppies like the big pompoms etc... can also be sown early spring I would use a net or something to keep the birds from eating the seeds since all poppies need to be surface sown they need the light to germinate

perennials will NOT bloom the first year even if started in january it takes them two years to mature to give blooms for those you can actually put them out in the late fall in cold areas you can use a large milk jug or water jug whatever cut out the bottom insert into the ground about three to four inches to make sure it stays put this also works to help you remember in the spring where you planted them since they so look like weeds and young plants

or you can just plant them anytime in the spring or summer my best plants I actually started at the end of july they grew like crazy and so healthy lots of bloom sthe next year
since in nature the seeds disperse at the end of july to aujust but again you should use something to keep the birds away and make sure to keep moist till they start to grow

when they get established they as perennials will make a nice large clump that will bloom huge flowers but do remember to not plant any poppies except the california kind at the front of a border since they all die back in the heat and do not look nice again till the fall rains

Thank you Mona. I'm going to try a couple of different ways and see what works best. I'm with you though about mimicing their natural cycle. Perennial poppies are what I'm after. I grew a number of varieties from seed over the past few years with a slim survival rate among several varieites.

I have tried OP's from seed and failed 100% so I just buy plants.
Last years experiment went great from April when I seeded the peat pots,I had germination and was affraid I would be over run with poppies.
BUT NO, in May I transplanted the tiny things and by June thay had dried up and disappeared even tho I watered.

ge, Oriental Poppies do go dormant in summer, I'm curious if any of yours that disappeared may have just done that? Hopefully you'll see some show up in spring!

NOPE
they had such small leaves ,barely 4 ,they just dehydrated and went to nothing.

These are the somnifariums I sowed last december.This was taken in August

I had a few very small ones and then in september into october we had three weeks with lots of rain and they came back so dont give up they do go dormant and if you didnt get enough rain this fall they may show up in the spring

When these failed I bought others from a co-op.They went dorment early because they were plugs and realllllly tiiiiiny.
This Sept and Oct thay came up. The crowns are small but I can wait.
There are 8 in all around this curve with DL's
I thought i marked where they are but there is one at the right.

This message was edited Dec 9, 2009 8:59 AM

They are very strange. I find that they don't always go dormant. What's even stranger, I've found where I might have 3 of the same variety growing within 6' of one another and 1 will go dormant, and the other 2 won't.

here is the right pix.
The top of this thread is the tail of my failed OP plan.

wrong again I give up.

This message was edited Dec 9, 2009 9:24 AM

Just one more time.
I have been loading and posting garden albums and didnt want to stop for a pix edit.
Here is the verrrry last time for the co-op poppies.
I put the pix in Photoshop and made a duplicate with a file name i couldnt miss.

I tried something different this past year. When some of m y O pops were going dormant I cut them clear to the ground and planted allysum over them. Here is a pic of them today. I just didn't want to have that dying foliage in the middle of my garden.

This is a picture of volunteer orientals on November 5th . The 2 tiniest were transplanted on that date. The weather here was quite dry for November here. They got a splash of water on most days as needed.

These are the same two seedlings today. The other plants include larkspur transplanted seedlings and shirley poppy transplanted seedlings.

I dont think I have ever seen OP self seed.Thanks

I've had several people tell me their OPs seed around. They give me seeds and nothing happens :-(

Im not an expert but perhaps here are varieies that self sow.
I had a deep cherry red one that sowed like mad.It was the only OP i had.

I keep hoping!!

as soon as I can get them going I take the seed heads and dump them just under the leaves of the parent the next year the patch gets bigger and bigger till its about fout to five feet wide then I start to give the seeds away for now I keep adding the seeds to get more plants I will plant more again this winter but in three inch square pots that are six inches deep so the plants can get large enough to plant out in may with five months of growing they will be bigger and healthier I will not quit till I have huge patches all over the place since I just love them

These must be Orientals Right?
Never the less its a good plan for Somnifariums

yes I love the orientals huge blooms

i'll look for seeds on mine

I always look for the poppies with the largest blooms to make a bigger show then I look for california poppies any new color since they bloom all summer and start when the larger veriaties are finished I love the delicate petals and the vibrant color of the bloom

these ones are just huge and beautifull

I'll say!!!

should have lots more this year since lots didnt get big enough to bloom and I am starting more this year since I have lots of space I want huge patches every where

I could die for more space,of course I would need a younger body to do the work.

or like me I have lots of space but I dont garden all of it some areas are wild and I dont plan on doing a darn thing to it since the birds love it just the way it is and I dont see a need to landscape it I do smaller areas that are manageable like around the pool off the drive way so it looks pretty, since last year we started working on an section which will be a shade area garden but will not be complete for another two or three years and then it will probably another couple after that before the plants really start to look good, its a on the side project when we feel like it hahahhahah DH is getting impatient to see it finished he actually do you believe it actually went out and worked on it on his own hahaha I never thought I would see the day but now he says it relaxes him so who knows it may get done sooner rather than later

Very Very good work, Mona, turning that guy into a gardener!!

I dont have the energy to garden all day.
Thats what it would take for me to tend some of the gardens on this web.
I am an early morning person ,so thats when everything gets done including photos.
I dont trust the grandkids to weed.
GS did remove part of a hydrangea last summer.

this is an annuals reseeding kind that bloomed in july and august its a partial double and I had it is pink, red and purple

very nice

here is another color

beautiful

here is the solid pink

I hope they reseed and I have more fo them this coming year so delicate and pretty and they actually kept blooming for about 2.5 months so that made me very happy

I actually kept sprinkling all the seeds back in the same area I hope it all grow would love to have lots more of them growing in that corner this year

It will happen.

Can't wait to see your photos.