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Help with Oriental Poppies

16 years ago

I planted a collection of 5 different types of Oriental Poppies from Dutch Gardens in the Fall (when they told me they should be planted). I top dressed with compost/manure earlier this season and none of them seem to have come up yet. I do have some little plants where the poppies should be, but I've looked online at the foliage and I think they're weeds and I was initially mistaken (not poppies! boo hoo!)

When do poppies break ground and should they be up and at 'em by now? Is it conceivably possible that the entire lot of the 5 poppies were duds? I'm very sad as I was looking forward to nice poppies for the cutting garden, but I'm a big old newbie so don't know what I'm doing.

Can anyone give me some advice on whether or not I should give up on the poppies this season, call the company and complain and plant something else in their spot until next fall when I can get more perennial poppies in the ground?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

lindac
16 years ago
Have someone who knows look at the spot with the little plants....it seems very unlikely that 5 plants would be dead....but then Dutch Gardens is known to have very sketchy quality.
I would call them ASAP...
I hate doing business with a firm which doesn't ship quality merchandise. Not only do you have the trouble of planting something that doesn't grow and the trouble of calling and then planting a replacement, you have lost a year's growth on your plants.
Yes DG is cheap but doesn't have the best customer satisfaction.
Linda C
gottagarden
16 years ago
They should be up and big by now. Poppies have quite hairy leaves, check those weeds and see if they are.
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duluthinbloomz4
16 years ago
Even in zone 4, Oriental poppies are up and fairly good sized already. The image feature on Google has some nice photos of Oriental poppy seedlings and even better pictures if you Google the images for Oriental poppy leaves.

It isn't inconceiveable that you got a bad batch of plants - even the most reputable mail order outfit isn't immune from having some failures - or that you may have suffocated them with a topdress of compost in the event you put on a thick layer. The literature says mulch/compost around but not directly on poppies.

But in any case, they should have broken ground in your zone quite a while ago.
gldno1
16 years ago
In my Zone 6 some are already blooming, but Royal Wedding and a coral pink one are up about 14 inches with buds. They remind me of thistles when the first come up............if you are familiar with thistles.
dirtdiver
16 years ago
My oriental poppies are up and bushy too, and I'm having a cold spring. I'm surprised that none of the five has come up, but before I take a swipe at Dutch Gardens (I haven't always had luck with their perennials either), oriental poppies aren't always slam-dunks to get established. Nevertheless, I'd be about ready to call DG and see about replacement.

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