I would find out what kind of poppy it is, if it self-pollinates, and then the pollintion mechanism. There are a lot of poppy varieties.

evonnestoryteller, I had another thread going on it along with photos, still on the first page here, and I think one poster was correct. Papaver rhoeas or Shirley poppy?

Do you know if they self-pollinate? I searched the web, and saw a couple discussions that indicated they do. One claimed if you wanted to save one particular bloom to tie a bag over it to prevent it from being cross pollinated by another plant.

It looks from my read tha they might not self-pollinate. What the heck though. It is your only plant, you might as well see if it sets seeds! Who knows, a neighbor bee might pollinate it anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: Self-incompatibility in plants

How very odd your Shirley Poppy only blooms one bloom at a time. I've never ever seen that before and are usually covered in blooms for a good 2 months on HUGE plants!! It wouldn't be unusual to find 20 or so blooms per day on one plant. How big is your plant? My only guess is that it doesn't like the conditions it's growing in...perhaps your temperatures are too warm yet for optimal growth? Mine will continue to bloom well into July's heat, however it seems that most of the buds are already set and in various stages of growth before the high heat kicks in.

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evonstoryteller, the link opens but no data on the page, may be temporary. Odd. I think I know what it's about as I read two scientific articles, same principle as I'm surmising your link was about, rejection mechanism and won't accept its own pollen. I'm sure some types of flowers will self-pollinate from only one bloom, but I'm not banking on it in this case. The wind will do some of the work if it will only work.

Who knows, a neighbor bee might pollinate it anyway.

Not likely, where would there be any poppies close enough blooming now? Maybe some compatible perennials that bloom longer that are compatible, infinitessimal chance at that now. In the normal poppy bloom cycles, might have happened. This one is late because the whole thing is one big fluke and the way I grew it not knowing what I had.

vera,

How very odd your Shirley Poppy only blooms one bloom at a time.

It's not normal growing in the jug. There are some other buds, don't know how many more will come before frost, and if two or more bloom at a time, it's still the same plant so I *might* be back to evon's self-pollinating rejection issue. But it could bloom more than one at at time, just is not so far.

All I can do is wait and see, I'll do my best with it.

In the meantime, I did find a Livermore perennial poppy that isn't quite as pretty as mine (beauty is in the eye of the beholder), and I could try those. They are supposed to have a much longer bloom time. It's similar enough from a distance.

Your poppies look so beautiful in your photos, what a gorgeous place you live, looks like the country just outside of my urban area. Good job taking the photos, too.

I heard back from T&M, they were nice about it all and had essentially the same info I've found. No one is beating a path to my door about this poppy (like it's some great new find) so it's only special to me. My motive wasn't to cash in on the thing in any way. I just want more for myself.

It will take some time, if the seed doesn't set before frost, the only option left is to bring it inside, in and out for the warmer days then in, put it under my lights, and hope the seed setting process finisihes. Main goal is to get seeds. It would take a near miracle to get viable ones under the circumstances, guess I'll try prayer and accept whatever way it goes.

I'll keep it alive as long as I can, of course, but have no hope of it lasting through the winter inside. You can tell how badly I want more of this exact one ;-). I'm that way, get my heart set on something.

I won't know until next year how all this is going to turn out.

It would be possible to clone it from only certain parts of the plant, but I do not have the expertise to do it and even if I could find someone, the cost would be astronominal, read figures $1000 and up, no way can I will pay that for a poppy even though I love it so.

Won't hurt to make a phone call or two or three.

Same bloom, been going about 3 or 4 days now. It's more of a rose or peony form when first opens (see pics on other thread), at least I get to see what the mature bloom form is supposed to look like as the first bloom drooped and petals fell off faster.

I count 5 or 6 buds on it yet. It's in potting soil which is pretty rich, think it might prefer a little drier, less rich soil normally. It appears once you get them going, they'll tolerate some drought and poor-to-average soil, aren't fussy. But I'm keeping this one watered, and it's got good drainage holes in the bottom. It's pretty dry and hot right now out where I moved it to get more sun even though the temps climb to near 80, gets pretty cool at night now, high 40's last night.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

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It looks like you took your photo with a cell phone? on June 27, 2008. Also you are in a different zone so may bloom earlier for you. 2 months is great.

What kind of daisies are those? I've got some nice spring ones and am looking for some that don't clump like Becky, grow as singles which it appears yours are, and don't get splotchy on the white petals.

I had some similar but dug them all out because the petals got disfigured by something, not real bad, but not what I wanted.

Hi:

From what I read, it can self pollinate. This is from the Plants for a Future database. I had to use the cached version of the site:

Papaver rhoeas:
Annual growing to 0.6m by 0.15m.
It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles. The plant is self-fertile. It is noted for attracting wildlife.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

stage, thank you for finding that for me! So there is a good reason now to hope. There are several more buds, and I ought to get something then IF I don't let the frost get it and IF I harvest the seeds right. I can bring it in overnight then set it right back out if there's frost. That should buy me some time.

My daughter took a look at it (petals fell off yesterday, two buds ready to go) and said how pretty it was, a good color for my garden and that I should grow more of those.

I may change my whole scheme because of that if it works! I'd love bunches of them even if they don't bloom all summer long. And my soil should be just fine for it even in some trouble spots.

Now I need to find a daisy that doesn't clump but grows as a single that blooms at the same time. But, no, I like my crazy daisy so will try to work that in and leave plenty of space for the poppies. Then American Meadows has a nice, wild lupine I'm hoping will grow in my zone, think it should.

I saved all that info. Thanks so much again. I feel so reassured.

I am not sure why the link is not working. So, perhaps it self-pollinates! :)

The article seemed to indicate that it did not. Perhaps there is something I misunderstand or the information is not as positive as the article and research indicates:

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for several genetic mechanisms in angiosperms, which prevent self-fertilization and thus encourage outcrossing...

The best studied mechanisms of SI act by inhibiting the germination of pollen on stigmas, or the elongation of the pollen tube in the styles...

Gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI)
In gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI), the SI phenotype of the pollen is determined by its own gametophytic haploid genotype. This is the more common type of SI, existing in the families: Solanaceae, Rosaceae, Plantaginaceae, Fabaceae, Onagraceae, Campanulaceae, Papaveraceae and Poaceae.[2]
...

The S-glycoprotein mechanism
The following mechanism was described in detail in Papaver rhoeas. In this mechanism, pollen growth is inhibited within minutes of its placement on the stigma[10]

Here is a link that might be useful: Self-incompatibility in plants

evonne, now we're back to where we were before. And your link is very specific about papaver rhoeas, what I read in two different sources pertained to field poppies but assumed it would apply to mine as well, same as what you're saying.

But stage found differently. Maybe sometimes they do self pollinate. I doubt we can resolve the discrepancy unless I just try it and see what happens. Not good to keep crossing them to the same genotype though which I would have to do to keep these going if it even succeeds.

Today I went out, and two are blooming simultaneously. So it isn't clear if it applies to a single bloom or all blooms on the same plant. Do you think because of the two going now (and hopefully for the rest of the buds), they will swap pollen? No, I read it again, and it says same plant or another plant of the same genotype.

My you've got your terminology down better than I do. I wonder what they do to select what I would call a sport but may not be the right term for poppies. At some point in the evolution of any plant with self-incompatibiity, it must have worked or we wouldn't have so many poppies that come true from seed. It appears many don't as they are sold as mixtures such as Angels Choir. In the above photo from WA state, they must cross pollinate, self sow, and produce uniform flowers the following year or they're perennials.

This is all new to me, in the dim recesses of my memory, I knew that corn self pollinates, but the link covers that, too. Some plants don't have the inhibiting factor. Others do in certain families. Must be a reason for it going one way for some and the other way for other types, suppose the experts can only speculate about that.

I'm guessing for our now infamous Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia, they must have gotten a new bloom and used seeds from that for multiple generations. Where it is now, it reverts to all sorts of things.

I wonder how they do select out poppies then or if they can. What about that unique grape poppy? I think it might be a rhoeas, too, but am not sure.

Evonne's link didn't work for me earlier, so I wasn't able to read it before now. Now that I have, I think what I quoted must be wrong. People don't study papaver rhoeas specifically, and write papers about its self-incompatibility, if it isn't so. Sorry, Aliska! I think some sites think the same as I did; if it's a "perfect" flower, it self-pollinates. But apparently there are these mechanisms that prevent it in some plants. Very interesting how wild tomatoes are self-incompatible, while domestic ones aren't.

That's ok, stage. I'm going to try anyway. Also try to buy the closest seeds I can find for insurance because I definitely want to go with that red shade.

But it will be disappointing if I don't get any of these for sure.

I just read a bit more about "S-I" in a google book. It didn't discuss papaver, but brassica. There was mention that S-I is not total, mentioning both wild populations and cultivated ones that had self-compatibility in a few plants. That's at the bottom of page 106 of the link. It also goes into removing S-I with temperature and chemical treatments, that's really interesting.

I was wondering whether a plant can remove its S-I if it's just not getting any pollen from anybody else. I didn't read anything about that. But if frogs can change gender in order to breed, couldn't a plant become self-compatible???

Here is a link that might be useful: S-I

There was mention that S-I is not total, mentioning both wild populations and cultivated ones that had self-compatibility in a few plants.

stage, thank you for trying so hard to help. I read that and will go through it again, pretty technical with botanical words I'm not familiar with. You seem interested in these topics. Kudos to you for that! It's stopped on the stigma.

I was wondering whether a plant can remove its S-I if it's just not getting any pollen from anybody else.

I suppose anything is possible, but odds are heavily against it. Still there's no harm in trying once I've gotten this far.

I'm pretty confident that you've (and a couple others) nailed it correctly which would make it an annual, but I wonder if I dare cut the bottom out of the jug make a depression, loosen soil, and gently just set it on top, could get it ready, but not do it until I've collect all the seed I can? Any chemical treatment to stimulate just too risky knowing nothing about that or cloning.

Bluestone has the Livermore perennial one, think might order some in the spring, haven't found any seeds that excite me too much. onestoppoppyshoppe has a couple different kinds of those Himalayan blue ones, expensive, but since I'm in a high-stakes mood, might try some, they have Livermore seeds, too, plus one other one that I like but not (you know the rest). I wonder if I ws'ed some Livermore if I'd get a couple blooms the first year, found another thread on the perennials forum talking about Livermore.

I've got a couple packets of the older Flanders poppy seeds, I think I'll try winter sowing some of those to keep them separate from the others and see what happens, little to lose at this point.

Thanks again for all your help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Livermore at GW Perennials in case anyone interested