I love reseeded California Poppies - what a surprise for me last spring - (early March)

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Also, how cute is this reseed?

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Carrie

btw, doris, I have a TON of poppy seed if you're interested. Most are separated by color, but by the time I got to collecting the seed, the labels I made (medical tape & ball point- don't use it), the tags were invisible. So they ARE separated by stem, but only labelled 'poppies' and it's a grab bag what's actually IN the envelope. Could be any of the above photos.

Have literal cups of the giganteums (somewhere...what DID I do with those??!)

MM,
Id actually LOVE any combination of poppy seeds! Lemme know What I can do for you!

So, the bunnies ate Ellens Blue Poppies, do they eat all the other kinds too? Arent some of them kinda toxic? Dont oriental poppies have some kind of latex thing going on?

I got some of the poppy allegro in a seed swap and looked it up....a bit hard to find at first but finally found it and it looks just like my red orientals except it is supposed to only grow about 15". I love poppies so planted (WS) them already.
gg

p.s. beautiful pics everyone!

well please ignore my last post!! :) It was meant to go in the post "woohoo got my seeds"
not sure ow that happened! :)
gg

I've grown the oriental and Flanders, but not the California. Was thinking of trying them this year. Are the Californias as cold tolerant as the others?

Karen

This is going to be the "year of the Poppy" for me, I hope! Last year, I WS'd the California poppies in a couple of different colors, but they all died (except one)when I planted them out. Then, I tried direct sowing with no success, but it may have been too warm by that point. Soooo, this year I am sowing more California poppies, some Oriental poppies, and one call Double Tangerine Gem. Is that the one you were thinking of Ellen? My plan is to plant them out sooner. Any other tips on how to transplant without killing them?

Bonnie

Karen - it was 10 degrees here this morning and my California poppy reseeds (nice big green mounds of them) look perfectly healthy.

Carrie

It has been my experience that planting out ASAP is the key to WS success with poppies. I waited too long the first year, and they croaked in the containers, so second year planted out before they were more than an inch tall (in HOSs) and they did fabulous. In comparison, I also WS'd just a few, and the WSn ones seemed to be 'better off,' but by bloom time, you couldn't tell which was DS vs WS.

I now don't even bother with WSing them because of there being no difference, and merely sprinkle them on the snow in early March. The latest I've done them is March 10, but not sure how much later than that one can do them here in Z5. I try not to go past the 10th.

From there, I just make sure the bed doesn't dry out.

Plantfiles lists California Poppy as hardy to zone 6, and denverplants.com says zone 4. I hope mine come back!

Maybe blue poppy, Meconopsis, doesn't have the same drug/poison compounds that other poppies do?

That is strange, Bonnie, the WS'n California Poppies that I got from Littleonefb's swap were easy enough to transplant as I recall. Since then, they've reseeded each year very abundantly, to the point where they are a pest and I have to weed a lot of them out. I got a dark orange red variety called 'Mikado' in a trade and plan to WS them.

In my experience they are very drought tolerant and that is why I planted them along the edge of the driveway and never had to water the reseeders.

They are also quite cold hardy - here is a picture of a lone bloom that was still hanging in there on November 1st - and the temps had already fallen to 25 F by that time. Along with Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' which was still blooming.

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They are also quite cold hardy - here is a picture of a lone bloom that was still hanging in there on November 1st - and the temps had already fallen to 25 F by that time. Along with Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow' which was still blooming.

I love those 'feel good' stories! They just make you smile when they are hangin' in there just so darned DETERMINED!

I love poppys, especially the ones with peony type blooms (anyone know what variety this is?)

I'd like more info on how you plant them in the iris beds mmqchdygg. I have way too many iris (inherited them from the last owner of the house) and the beds look so ratty after bloom, if I could get poppys squeezED IN THERE that would be wonderful. I don't see ratty iris foliage in your photos....do you cut it all down?

Nan I have the peony type poppies in a lilac color, mine grew to 4 ft high and the blooms were huge! I didn't ws them, just threw the seed down in the late winter. I don't recall the name either. (these were in their second year)
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Here are some that I did get as a newbie last year {{gwi:346595}}
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Hi, I'm new to winter sowing.
I purchased some pretty ones called " Angels Choir", and they were very expensive seeds. I planted some in containers in December, I am wondering if anybody knows about them? I still have a pinch of seeds left unplanted just to be safe, anybody knows about them? "angel's choir", they seemed very pretty in the picture

I also planted some larger seeds of kitchen poppy ( the kind I use for baking, purchased from the bulk store, anybody knows what the flowers look like ( if they sprout, that is...)
Thank you

Hi Nan-
If I'm not mistaken, that photo was taken the year before I got Iris Fever and put the irises in the bed. Lemme see if I can find one from last year. Well, I found one, but it's a late summer one of the bed after the poppies were yanked and the cosmos are now in bloom (and getting tired). The effect is the same, though...the iris straps are pretty well hidden, and the poppies make a nice show. This was taken September 24th, when things are starting to go a little south here in New Hampshire, and I can see where I should have planted some more Cosmos on the end here to cover that end of Iris straps. And obviously those nasturtiums were a stupid choice to put in there on the other end (no one said I was any good at plant aesthetics). The Cosmos here are about 3/4 as 'nice' as they get for show because I do deadhead about every 4 or 5 days to keep the show up, and if I miss a 'session,' the bloom show lessens for a few days til they can recover.

As I look at this picture, I'm not really liking the messy look of this bed, so perhaps I need to rethink that Cosmos and find something like a Zinna or a taller Marigold which has better looking foliage.

Anyway, here's the pic. These are 'Bright Lights' Cosmos. I'm going to try something different this year, but because of the location of the bed (way across the yard), I'll still have to have a bright flower there to give some nice color over there.:

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As I mentioned previously, I sprinkle the poppy seeds in March...before ANYTHING is thinking about waking up for the spring. The irises are not cut down; the poppy foliage simply hides the strappy foliage of the iris after they go by. FWIW, my iris foliage doesn't get too yukky...it just stays green & strappy after bloom time.

I try to take pretty good care to keep the bed weed-free while the poppies are coming up (as soon as I recognize that I'm not yanking poppy babies!) and throughout the summer. Disclaimer: last year was a HORRIBLE gardening year for me, and EVERYTHING seemed to go to he:: in a handbasket because I wasn't paying attention as much as I should have.

I think the bed looks great, not messy at all. You gave me a good idea how to hide my iris foliage... cosmos! Great idea!

Carrie

Ahhh, I bet those are siberian iris or some other kind of non-bearded iris! I have both kinds and the bearded ones are the culprits with the ratty foliage. I have been giving them away and keeping the siberians I have that do stay fairly neat.

I'd given up on cosmos cause they get too tall and leggy in my beds, but this variety your showing really looks great! I think I will try again with a short variety in the iris beds with poppy - - -thanks for the inspiration.

Anyonw know yet what those peony poppys are called?

Thanks for the answers on the Californias Terrene and Carrie.

Carrie, you don't see 10 degrees too often, do you? That's pretty bad even up here where we're used to winter. You must think you're in Antartica when hit with 10! And your Californias are so pretty! How long do they hold up in your heat?

Adiro: I grew some Papaver Angels Choir in 2006. They are beautiful, very cold hardy while they look very delicate. Here's a picture with a some Angels Choir and some Flanders
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These did well in cooler spring, early summer, but not so great looking once our awful summer heat and humidity hit. Had to be yanked and replaced. If I do the Californias this year, will probably do what mmqc does and replace with direct seeded cosmos because they bloom so fast.

Karen

Peony Poppy, Paeony Flowered Poppy
(Papaver paeoniflorum)

OMG, Karen, your poppies are gorgeous ( Well, so all all the other poppies in the thread, but I don't have them,,,) I really hope my seeds yield flowers like that! It's my first time winter sowing, and I really hope it works!

I also have Cosmos seeds, collected from my mom's savage cosmos that grows right through stones and pavement. how do you keep a succession of flowers, once the poppies are gone? Just put seeds of cosmos through the poppies, and cosmos will follow, or you have to sprout them in containers and plant little cosmos after you cut the poppies down? Also, height wise, cosmos and poppies compare? The cosmos my mom has grows very tall and dense, looks like a 5 foot forest.

Adiro: There are a lot of variables in your questions but I'll give it a shot.

I do wintersow cosmos, and they work well. However, in hot summer weather, they'll sprout and grow fast. So you can direct seed some, even starting while your poppies are growing, to give some cosmos a start. Then if you yank your poppies some cosmos might be growing in between, but you could also sow some cosmos in a container and transplant whenever convenient.

Height can vary with both, you'll have to google your choices. California or oriental poppies can be as short as 10 inches, while breadseed poppies can be 4 to 5 feet.

Same with cosmos- different types can range from about 1 to 5 feet.

Your best bet if you have such a plan in mind (for succession planting) is to google each particular flower that you're working into that plan.

Best tip with poppies- transplant early, one or two leaf stage no matter how cold the weather. As soon as soil thaws and can be worked and poppies have a set or 2 of true leaves. They can take it.

Karen

What an interesting conversation about Poppies - I am learning.
Here are some pictures of Peony Poppies:
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/annuals/poppy_peony.html
and
One called Our Favorite Poppy Seed Page
http://www.seedman.com/poppy.htm

No, the bunnies do not bother CA poppies.
No, the Double Tangerine Gem, altho a beauty, is not the one I am thinking of. If I find a pic I will post.

Re transplanting - I found that the bigger the "HUNK" that I transplant the better. In one case I had some CA poppies in one of those cake containers, about one foot across. I had planned to split them up, but after having some of my transplants die, I decided to put the whole thing in a bed made specially for them.
(Hope these guys appreciate it!)
They did splendidly, and in fact, pushed out the Artemisian, which I think is a goner!

Someone said "Weed them out". OMG, blasphemy! :)

the mikado - dark red orange, sounds beautiful. I'm going to look that one up.

I also had CA poppies last in November, they were actually the last bloom I had. And altho someone had told me that they don't like the hot weather, in the intense heat of mid-summer, they continued to do great.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peony Poppies

That settles it, then, If the Cal poppies can take heat too, I'll just have to try a few this year. Thanks, Ellenr.

Karen

Karen,

I tried CPs for the first time last year after Trudi suggested them for a particular purpose and I'll never be without them. I placed them on my 'want' list for seeds this year because the seeds didn't mature by November since I had planted them out late and I needed to clean that garden bed for 'incomings' this season.

Mine were sown in small styro cups (which I'm never using again...), and kept in the containers until July 21st. When I removed them from the cups, I tore the 'hunk' in half and planted. They seemed none the worse for wear. and took off like wildfire. I had the orange ones and they were spectacular!!

Hehe, Ellenr, that was me who said "weed them out". Perhaps I should say "thin them out".

Honestly those Cal poppies reseeded so abundantly, they looked like a patch of grass. They are not terribly sightly at this stage. Another note - by the middle of summer, mine tend to die back a bit and could use some shearing. That is when the Alyssum got going and filled in with blooms. The Cal poppies then got a 2nd wind when the weather turns cooler.

After reading a couple websites, it seems they resent root disturbance similar to other poppies. So transplanting when they are small and in little hunks is probably the way to go.

Hey Karen, thanks - love YOUR poppies!

Well, I pull my poppies when it gets too hot, plus they start to take over and cover all the other perennials that are in that bed. I don't harvest the seeds because I would have to wait until they are looking really ratty and the bed faces my street - not a pretty sight.

Yes, we've had 10 degree (give or take a few degrees) in several winters here and I am used to the cold since I spent most of my life in New York. It's sort of a nice change and reminds me of "home"... :0)

Carrie

Wow everyone. Those are beautiful. I have had some orange oriental poppies from my mother's. The front of her house fills in with them every year. She has them planted with orange ditch lilies. They seem to work well together. One after the other takes over.

I traded for lots of different poppies this year and can't wait to see them all. I had no idea the foliage was so different species to species.

I have all the poppies out to WS right now. I'll have to make a note to plant them out right away.

I really need to get some pics of my mom's garden, ten years of little maintenance and she has super plants that can take anything and layer beautifully. She wants to move most of them out and replace with bulbs and shrubs too. Shocking.

I loved reading all your posts on this thread. I love poppies!!

I have 15 different varieties to choose from this year (cal poppy, peony type, oriental, annual). I plan on winter sowing the perennial types and direct sowing the annual types since last year I couldn't get the annuals I wintersowed into the ground quickly enough.

Does anyone know of any adverse effects of planting a bunch of different types in close proximity? Will they revert back to a wild red poppy type over time?

No need to worry, Laura. Plants don't revert to their wild forms. Most the time, they just die or are choked out by their more vigorous companions who propagate themselves in the resulting space. Because most poppies are annuals and croak after seeding, you don't have to worry about any of them coming back as plain Janes anyway.

Oriental poppies are perennial but should have no problem getting along with their neighbors so long as you give everyone enough space and nutrients.

adiro, Angels Choir is p. rhoeas, annual. They can resent transplanting same as the others so do it when they are quite young....alternative is to sow direct in late winter, or winter sow in plantable newspaper pots.

I sowed a handful of the kitchen/baking variety from the bulk spice aisle of the grocery once year (p. somniferum, breadseed poppy) and got a mix of pastels...whites, lavenders, pale pinks. Understated might be a good description :)

Thanks, Clumsygrdner!

Couple of answers:

The variety of Cosmos I use are Bright Lights. They are about 2' or so. Deadhead diligently, and the show will continue til frost.

I wintersow the Cosmos probably in June so they are probably 4-6" high when I plant them out after the poppies, which is late since I like to collect seeds from the poppies. So I wait that long, and unfortunately have to deal with ratty poppy foliage for a couple weeks til the seeds are gone.
After that, I simply rip out the poppies, and transplant the Cosmos.

I found a great looking 2' RED cosmos...shoot, which catalog did I order that from...Wildseed Farms? Gurney's? I don't think I've placed an order with Swallowtail yet this season, but I'm pretty sure I saw another bright colored shortie over there, too.

I do NOT like the taller cosmos, and have been discussing that on another thread. Besides, they would look retarded in this bed, so I stick to the shorties that are just a little higher than the iris foliage.

I don't direct-sow the cosmos. Oh, and I do plant them close- not more than 6" in between plants.

Last year was my first year growing poppies. First I WSed some Mexican poppies (closely related to the California ones). Transplanting was rough, only a few survived. I must have waited too long. I then direct sowed some California poppies and had better luck.

I was quite impressed with these. The bloomed very well until mid or late summer and then took a rest. They started blooming again when the weather cooled off. I thought I was diligently deadheading these. However, I find that they have reseeded quite a bit. Just think if I hadn't been deadheading them!

This year I will be trying Mikado, Papaver Hungarian Blue and Ladybird. I have been indecisive about whether to WS or DS these. They remind me of dill when you try to transplant them. The poor things just melt within seconds of disturbing their roots.

mmqc: I think your cosmos bed looks great. Always seeking to improve things (and often ruining the whole thing in the process), I'd add one contrasting color- just a few red cosmos, or dark purple flower.

And you could simplify things for yourself by direct sowing the cosmos, or at least half of them. They sprout and grow really fast, the shorter height ones especially, in the warmth of summer. After yanking some larkspur and creating holes in my beds I plucked seeds from some of my carpet cosmos when I returned from vacation the last week in July and just threw the seeds in the empty spots. Within a few weeks the carpet cosmos filled the spots.
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Only problem might be yanking seedlings along with poppies as you pull, so you could just cut off the poppies at the soil line, leaving the roots to rot and compost and feed the worms.

Karen

Wow, this thread is amazing!
Thank you everybody for contributing, it is so much good info in here!
I love poppies but I never had them! I really want to succeed with them!
Cosmos I really like because they look like wildflowers, beside that I have a handful of seeds, so I can afford to go wrong with them. I will try both ways, I am so curious if direct sowing will yield anything.... So wintersowing in June, hm, that sounds more like summersowing to me :)

So many people with Poppy experience I can't help asking for opinions and experience to help me choose a variety to try.

Which Poppy blossom holds up better in rain/wind conditions?

I've been looking at Double Shirley where I want a bit more height and Californias in Rose Chiffon, Purple Gleam or mix of Thai Silk where I want less height for border use...and maybe Mission Bells California.

Experience or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to direct sow some using cut bottle over seeds even though deer already pulled up the bottles I had over Larkspur seeds. Aaaaargh!!

I'd love to wintersow & HOS plant them but anything I put out with only a couple sets of true leaves is going to be eaten either by rabbits, deer and/or groundhogs.

Figure I can protect them a little longer with bottle on top of them increasing air holes as they grow so they don't fry.

Thanks, everyone. Those pics are gorgeous...especially love those purples.

I haven't had many that will take a tough rainstorm. Wind doesn't USUALLY knock the blooms off, and I live on a pertty windy hill. Rain is the killer-of-blooms for me.

But...because I plant so many, there's always tomorrow for another flush of blooms while the show is going on.

ps: have you tried milleorganite (sp) for deer control? I have a nursery nearby that fills up panty-hose with it and hang it about every 20 feet on the perimeter of their property to keep deer out, and they swear by it.

We don't have bunnies, so can't help you there.

A sales person at a local nursery told me she uses milorganite as spring fertilizer on her lawn and ornamental gardens. Only drawback is some foul smell from bacteria used to break down human waste.

Just saying that almost makes me want to forego trying it but I could try putting it into pantyhose and hanging it around the property. I was picking up downed limbs today and had to watch where I was walking there was so much "deer doo" all over the lawn.

Guess our mail lady wouldn't appreciate the odor or milorganite when she delivers the mail since the most exposed garden is around the mail box...LOL. Deer scraped all the winter pine mulch off that bed just for the fun of it. They head over to that bed after they've tried and retried to eat the fake flowers the lady across the street has in pots by her front door.

I'm still going for the poppies. Now I just have to decide which ones for this year. They're one of those flowers I've just got to try...one among many!

The link has a recent somewhat humorous article about the EPA and Milwaukee, WI milorganite production/marketing.

Here is a link that might be useful: EPA derails plans to market Milorganite as deer repellent

I love poppies but I had no success with them last year. I have WS some and plant to direct sow some also.

Mary, Mary, if you see something on my trade list you would like I would love to trade for a bunch of your poppy seeds. I would like to have them coming out the wazoo this year! They are such great looking flowers.

Sorry to butt in.... I WS'd both Coral Reef & Red Oriental poppies. I think I'm giving the red to my mother, but do have a spot all ready for the Coral Reef babies. How much space should I give each baby when I put them in? I want to get them in this week, if we have a nice day. Raining most of the day's.

Also, do the oriental's bloom the first year?

Melissa1977

Melissa, I was wondering the same thing about the Oriental poppies.

Just wanted to post an update. I planted out all of the annual poppies two weeks ago, and they have made it through several nights of freezing temps, LOTS of strong winds, etc. and survived just fine. They are even starting to show some growth. I'm pretty certain now that the problem last year was that it was too warm by the time I planted them out. That high altitude sun can really fry young sprouts!

I'll try to get some pictures of my baby poppies to post.

Bonnie

I planted out poppies this weekend, tiny, tiny. Great to see this post back up because it is reminding me that I need to take a few containers around to the iris beds! Good thing I've got plenty of containers left full of sprouts. I also started tons of sonata cosmos (shorter, but taller than rotting iris foliage) that I will put in those beds too.

Orientals don't bloom until the second year.

Hepatica

Just a curiosity question.. has anyone tried growing any variety of poppies in a Partly Shady bed? My Full Sun beds are getting mighty full... I have plenty of partly shady beds... just wondering if anyone has had any luck w/ that?

Thanks!
Wendy

Don't have an answer for the shaded-poppy question, but I did see a photo once of someone that they APPEARED to be in a shady spot and doing great by a tree. But don't take my word for that one.

Thanks, Karen for the note that you can wait as long as July to sow those Cosmos; I've been slacking and just_haven't_done_the_WS_cosmos yet for this bed. Must get to that ASAP!

Ive got poppies that liked the east side of the house, it gets direct sun for a couple hours and is shaded after 1pm. Its also under the eaves and doesnt get a ton of water.

I sowed them allllllllll over the place is this is where they chose to do well.

Well see how they bloom!

I think that was my photo of poppies in a semi-shaded area by a tree. They were shaded in the morning with afternoon-evening southwest sun. That photo is from early July '08 with self sown poppies. Have some self sown poppies growing there again this year though fewer as have put mulch over much of the area.

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Oriental poppies can get quite huge. I have two that are about 2 feet across when they bloom. This is one reason they are considered challenging when planning them into a perennial bed. They have a big footprint and when they die out in July and August, there is a big empty space in the bed. The big empty space is not critical for me as these popppies are in my cutting garden.

Teresa

There are several perrenial types:

1. Oriental
2. Iclandic
3. Meconopsis
4. Papaver Bracteatum (this one looks like a regular oriental to me.
5. Alpine poppies

there are probable more. There are several types of annuals as well,

If you go to One Stop Poppy Shop you can look through.

I cant seem to get into photobucket this morning to share any of my pics.. My favorite poppy last year was probable Laurens Grape.. Im trying several more, never did the peony types, so have a mixture of those going in this year.

Silverkelt