Direct sow poppy and larkspur seeds?

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I was given some poppy
seeds and larkspur seeds yesterday. The woman who gave them to me just told me
to scatter them now, and not cover. The poppy seeds are doubles, not Icelandic.
I saw them blooming in her yard, but don’t know more than that. They were tall
and had bluish green leaves.

Is it really that easy? I don’t do winter sowing.

Featured Answer

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

8 years ago

the trick is to put a marker near some of them ...

so you can recognize the spot where the babes are supposed to hatch ...

and then when you see a few sprout.. you can Id them as positives ....

so you dont weed them all out ... lol .. been there.. done that ...

ken

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Comments (8)

docmom_gw
8 years ago
With poppies and larkspur, yes, it is that easy. You will also get better results this way. Both of these plants do poorly following any transplant, no matter how carefully done or at what stage of growth. They also might germinate this summer or fall, and then overwinter as a very small sprout, but have a head start come next spring. There have been many threads discussing the pros and cons of direct seeding vs wintersowing these seeds, and the consensus has been to direct sow them or just let them fall from the plant as nature would.

Martha
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago) thanked docmom_gw
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User
8 years ago
Ken, you weed?
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I would wait until late August because we want germination then a long, slow winter growth...not germination then a quick burst and attempt to flower THIS year (and although annuals can be sown right up until late May, I would generally consider the sowing season over by now. By growing slowly over winter, the roots get big and the resulting plants are infinitely larger, more floriferous and stronger than spring sown hardy annuals. Sowing right now is the worst of all because the plants will likely attempt to still complete their growth cycle in one season and neither the roots nor the shoots will be worth the candle (although they probably will put out some late August/September blooms.
So, what I do is prepare a nice clean and friable seed bed then simply broadcast or sow in drills (I prefer to sow in short rows/drills because it is easier to determine what are flowers and what are weeds and by the time of flowering, all the rows become melded together anyway). Poppies and larkspur prefer to be uncovered...in fact, poppies insist on it...which is another reason for holding on a bit since those tiny seeds easily dry out in June and July heat whereas the milder damper autumn season still holds enough soil warmth for germination and rains to keep the developing seeds moist..

eta - a neat trick is to split the seed and do an autumn sowing AND a spring sowing for successional growth - big early flowers in May and another later crop in June/July.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago) thanked User
maidinmontana
8 years ago
my neighbor gave me a brown paper bag full of poppy seeds at the end of the summer last year. I already had things growing where I wanted to plant them, so I stored them in the garage for the winter. Come spring I scuffed up the ground a little bit, scattered the seeds and within a week they had sprouted. . . today I had my first red poppy head nodding in the breeze.. . From here on out I think I will let the seeds drop as they wish but also gather a few to scatter in the spring just like this year.

Couldn't be easier. . . I do the same with California poppies. . . love the little orange heads that close when the sun isn't shinning. . .
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
hey campy ... lin is in chicago.. more attuned to my winter ... we are talking ground freeze ...

late fall summer/fall sowing will get you nothing but spring hatch .. depending on how late ... and that is fine for the two plants asked about ...

cat.. i used to weed ... back in suburbia... on a small lot ...

ken
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
the other trick ... since they need to contact soil .. rather than be spread on top of mulch ...

is to clear a one foot circle ... and so when 20 of them pop up.. in that circle.. odds are.. they will be what you planted ... and the circle will tell you you did plant something there...

they can be moved at the first true leaf or two ... dig a new hole.. pop the whole little plant out with a hand trowel ... insert in new hole ... do it on a cold rainy day .. in spring ... the idea being.. you get the whole tiny root with it.. and it never know you did it ...

you cant wait until its large .. no real sense of humor about that..

ken
cogscilibrarian
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I just got some larkspur seeds from a friend, who says this: scratch up the soil where you want them. Take about 2/3 of the seeds and
scatter them on the scratched-up earth. Pat down the earth. And that's
that. When they germinate in early spring they'll have a ferny-looking
foliage. If they fail to germinate, you still have 1/3 of the seeds to
sow in the spring. Keep those seeds sealed in a jar in the fridge over
the winter.

Her instructions are consistent with what I've seen here, so that's what I'm going to do! (zone 7b in central NC)