I'm not sure, but I know my popie has a small bud on it this week. Maybe it's growing roots? I also know my garden is about 2 weeks behind schedule, it's been so cool here.

Karyn

Thanks Karen. All of my other poppies are ready to open. I was just worried because it was so gorgeous last year. I will patiently wait. Thanks again.

Jess

Foliage died back and I never did get a bloom this year. I can't figure out why as all of my others did. Oh Well, hopefully next year.

Are they in full sun? without enough sun they may have nice foliage but no flowers.

Thanks for the post. They are in full sun. This clump I bought from the nursery two years ago and it has produced both years. Not this one though. I didn't save the tag either. All I know is that it's tall and red with fuzzy dark foliage.

Well friends. Another year and still beautiful foliage on my Oriental Poppies but no pods coming. I have another clump about a foot away (different color)..these are full of pods. I am so discouraged. I love Poppies so much but find that they are extremely hard to grow..I have thrown out thousands of seeds of different types over the past four years and nothing ever becomes of them. Only the ones I buy in the nursery will stay for me and now I have this issue. I am ready to give up on the Poppies..:(

Don't give up! Poppies are such miraculous flowers and, like you, I've been
struggling to grow them for years - the larger, named varieties, not the
common orange ones, which I have by the dozens! - after much research,
I tried creating a small raised bed (they demand perfect drainage!) and last
season was rewarded with the healthiest clump of foliage ever, but no flower.
This season - huzzah! - huge, stunning red flowers on 3' corkscrew stems!
Now, I can't "guarantee" that drainage was the answer, but it might be worth a try. . .

Carl

My wife's friend gave us a cut flower arrangement from her yard. In it was beautiful purple Iris with orange beard and huge Orange Poppies. The poppies were about 5" across, really big. What kind would these be, oriental maybe?

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the uplifting note. I did some research yesterday and found that drainage may be an issue. Also, they do not like to be very wet either. Still strange because they are actually on a slope in my garden so I would think that would be great for them. Also not sure about fertilizer either. It's so hard to water and fertilize things individually when you have so many different types of plants with different needs. I won't give up yet!! Thanks again.

I wanted to let everyone know that my poppies are finally forming pods way down at the base. I am so happy I didn't yank it out. Thanks for all of the feedback.

This is the second year for my poppy plants. Last year, just foliage, this year lots of pods and they are now blooming. The drainage issue is surprizing to me because my beds are wet. They are just below my gutter system which is non draining and therefore runs over. I have a question; do they go to seed? I have more poppys than I planted??? I tried transplanting some from an old homestead nearby and they seemed to die, but I'm getting new plants back this year. Any ideas?

Have you tried the annual varieties? I also have a raised bed (put over my leach field, where the grass never seemed to want to turn green, so in went the bed!)

I sprinkle seeds in early March, and just let them do their thing. The raised bed seems to be the answer, as drainage is excellent. Here's a couple pix of my Z5 Iris/Poppy bed. First one taken just last week, so you can see how small they are still here in New Hampshire. It'll be several weeks before I see any sort of blooms, but the result is quite nice (second pic...couple years ago):

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Oh My!! Beautiful pics. I did try the annual ones this year as well. Going to try some more seeds, too. Casi..they do go to seed. Wait for the pods to dry up really well. I snip the whole pod off and put in a paper bag. Next Spring you will have TONS of seeds. I would put them in when it is cooler in early Spring. Don't cover with too much soil either. Also, they do not like to be transplanted so don't try to dig em up and move them. Never worked for me anyway. Good luck.

I simply sprinkle the seed over the snow on this bed in early March. I never cover the seed at all; even if there's no snow. Once the bed thaws, the seeds settle into the soft soil and do their thing without any covering. It's the easiest gardening chore I have to do during the year.

After the poppies go by, I put in Cosmos, but there's about a 2-week lag when the bed looks completely horrendous while I wait for seed pods to mature. Then they all get ripped out and replaced with the cosmos until October (at which point I rip out the dead cosmos, freshen up the bed with new compost if needed, reset some irises that may not have bloomed because they were too deep, and let it go til March again when I start over.)