I don't know about woodchucks but the deer don't eat them here.They have very long taproots and are hard to transplant- easier when they're young. They will probably sulk and may not flower after transplanting but they usually come back next year to bloom.

Hedy

OOOhhh, I love Oriental Poppies! I've never tried to transplant them, EGO, but I'd venture a guess that you should do it after they begin to die back (for me that's in July) but before they begin to regrow the basal leaves (mid-August for me).

They are taprooted and they prefer lean soil, on the dry side. I'd dig deep and not sweat about it too much. Given the conditions they seem to like I suspect they're pretty tough to kill outright. A very dear friend of mine who had a nursery business for years put it this way: "it's a plant. It'd rather be alive than dead; given decent conditions it'll probably live.".

Our dog keeps any deer away, ditto woodchucks... or we call in the neighbor and his gun, lol.

So far the deer have left them alone. Given what the deer have eaten, that is saying something.

I've tried more than once to move them, and the only thing I've accomplished is making the original clump smaller. I never get the whole thing, so it grows back, and I never seem to get the transplantees to survive. I've tried as they were going dormant and right after they come out of dormancy with no luck.

On question about deers I'm more or less clean :-)
If they are not transplantabe/dividible than how/where one could get them?
I'm not looking for fancy cultivars, just for something tall in a red-orange coloring for out of the fence sunny place where they will share grounds with monarda, aconitum, verbena bonariensis, sib. irises etc...you got the picture...and spread and grow how they wish to.

If you don't mind tiny seedlings, ego, I have some brilliant red oriental poppies that I just started from seed. Small green heads are popping up in my greenhouse window. I'd be happy to give you some at the CT Swap on May 4th, if you're interested in trying them.

Best,
Jane

Hi George.
I've had the same exact experience as Mad Gall. I've tried repeatedly to move one, but it always reappears in its old locale (no matter how I dig), and never where I've put it. Makes me laugh, at this point!
Maybe you could start some from seed? What about the annual poppies that reseed where they like? I've been scattering seed this year, in hopes of success...but we'll see!
ML

Jane, thank you. I'd accept them with gratitude.

Carolyn, I didn't know that there are annual poppies exist.
How tall they are?
Will they reseed kind of like verbena bonariensis does, you plant it once and it will pop up years in succession?

From what I have read, oriental poppies are a lot like dandelions. A lot of people described trying to move them and how they magically pop out of the same place.

George -

I can send you annual poppy seeds if you'd like later this summer. (Just send me an email reminder.) They are a brilliant pink-red with a basal blotch of purple. Just sprinkle the seeds on the soil surface (don't cover) and let them grow. If you let the ones with the tone you like best go to seed you'll have them forever. I have never been able to transplant them successfully, so I just let them seed and remove the ones I don't want.

Babs

Babs, thank you, making note to write ...when? August?September?

Hi George and all -

There's a rather invasive, bright red, single-type oriental poppy here on Cape Cod. It's beautiful, and looks more like an annual with its fragile flowers.

In my current neighborhood, I understand that it was started by someone down the block, to the north of me, and its been parading southward for about 40 years. I first saw it in my yard along the northern boundary, and I was just outside (in my bathrobe, LOL) pulling it up from around some less vigorous plants near the southern edge of the yard. I am nearly positive that the seedlings I'm pulling up are viable, and also that if I check my nursery pots there are lots of volunteers mixed in with the verbena bonariensis (and, hopefully, whatever is supposed to be in the pots).

It's a bit of a pest, but awfully nice when in flower. Ego, it would be a good companion for VB and Siberian Iris, but if this fence garden is to the north of the property, you'd need to know that they would not stay there without putting up a fight - they'd want to colonize the whole garden.

My fancier OPs also reseed nicely, if not dead-headed, and I think that if I just put a ripe seed pod into a pot I'd have some more plants. They flower when quite young - 1 or 2 years from seed.

Hi George. I bot a couple of different types of poppy seeds from 'Select Seeds'...Papaver commutatum, Papaver somniferum, and Papaver orientale. I've just tossed them here and there, and have no idea if they'll come up or not! But never hurts to try.... I do hope they'll reseed and move around. I like that!
ML/C

George -

Send me a reminder mid-July please. They bloom early summer and set seed heads pretty quickly after that.

Got just what you want - these are the perennial, brilliant red variety, and they self-seed like crazy, but
are easy to edit where unwanted....I spread them around the
garden the exact same way Mother Nature does - carry a mature flower head around the garden and tap gently where
ever you want your next batch! I'll try to pot up a batch
and bring them to you at the plant swap...

Carl

Thank you.