Icelandic Poppies

Hi! Everybody!!

Is everybody experiencing these terrible winds or is it just us? I have a question: Are Icelandic Poppies a winter annual here in Southern California? I bought a flat in November of these and each plant has a flower bud but none have flowers. They have had the buds for about two weeks now. I have never planted Icelandic Poppies before...

Thanks,

Chuck

They should flower any time now. They do for me in the Bay area, anyway.

The winds are terrible here Chuck, it's wreaking havoc on my poor plants.

Awful winds here too! I just hate the wind - we've clocked 66 mph this evening so far. My formerly-glorious large brugmansia is nothing but a bunch of branches.
A couple of my tropical hibiscus' are also naked :-(

Ditto here...bitterly cold, dry wind. I finally gave up on potting seedlings and came in and lit the fire. I guess we need a little winter here now and then to give us a chance to do nothing. I'm wondering about this long spell of "wetter than usual winter" they're predicting. Good news / bad news.
Sherry

I am ready for the rain storms. I have a new next-door neighbor that is a gardening handyman. He actually put drains in our backyards (his and mine) that drain the water that used to just sit in my backyard when it rained. I have been keeping track of how it works....so far it works like a charm. He is helping me with the sprinkler timer for the front yard. I am really fortunate that this guy moved in next door. Wonderful young family that brings back memories of when we moved in (17 years ago)...LOL

I just potted yesterday the small clump of lemon grass that I had. I was able to divide it into three plants. I had to bring them inside because of the winds. The winter cassias are slow growing but when you consider this is winter, that's okay. The big clump of lemon grass, I think will make at least six plants.

Thanks,

Chuck

Icelandic Poppies are my very fav.
I've always planted several flats in Sept when living in Menlo Park CA
In AZ I've had a major problem with critters (chipmunks) eating the buds just as they're ready to open. READ: Opium. A poppy is a poppy is a poppy.
I've given up. Living on a golf course is not conducive to good gardening. Those critters have an easy life and too much access to plant food.

Huh, I 'd never thought about critters eating the buds for that purpose. There's an interesting little book I read some years ago called the Poppy Eater (true story) about this person in the Seattle area who was always out stealing papaver somniferum from peoples' yards to make a tea from for his habit. So....do you have a bunch of stoned little chipmunks?
Sherry

You'd know what I am talking about if you looked out into my yard "the next morning".
Sticks. You know the tall stem the bud is attached to ??? Well, I would have dozens of those naked stems sticking up with no pod, no bud. They chipmunks just ate the buds, just at the right time of ripeness, Yea, they're all stoned, living underground, on my Wanted List.

I'll have to consider that if I put any in the ground..I usually sow them in my whiskey barrels. I think you need to put up a video camera somewhere to watch them/ catch them in the act. I'm imagining all kinds of pictures of the whole gang showing up and trying to beat each other to the best buds, not to mention where they go afterwards...little chipmunk opium den. lol
Sherry

Oh my God, it's still blowing and has all day. I'm so worried about my plants. I heard 90 miles an hour expected...YIKES!

Sorry, I dont' think this is supposed to be a Santa Ana wind thread...carry on with Chuck's icelandic poppy question!

Maybe Chuck will forgive us, I don't think it's supposed to be a stoned chipmunks thread,either. You just never know when these things are gonna pop up! Actually, the wind has stopped here. I hope it's not building up in your area and just hasn't reached us again yet. I lurk in the Pacific Northwest forum sometimes ('cause we used to live up there and think about going back) and someone mentioned losing 14 trees to the storm up there. My eucalyptus have all been swaying all over, but amazingly no branches have come down. This is more wind than we've ever had at this location that I remember...So,Chuck, how are your poppies doin' in the wind and with chipmunks? lol

Well, first of all I live in the middle of the Lake Perris Valley and we don't have much wildlife other than butterflies, hummingbirds and other birds. Most of the wildlife lives in the hills around us. I have seen coyotes at least. I am not familiar with identifying birds but I am pretty sure that I have seen California Condors in the sky before (Could be wrong but at least it was a large majestic bird).

The wind is GONE!! Thank the Lord!

I haven't gone outside yet! I am kinda nervous about it. It is about 50 degrees outside and according to AOL, it is only supposed to be 64 degrees high today. When I get back from church this morning (we are Seventh-Day Adventist), I will look at the damage. Our neighbor's tree lost a branch. Now I can look at this two ways...one: now my mountain mahongany will get more sun or two: the birds will have less spots to make their nests.

How did everybody fare during the storm?

Thanks,

Chuck

We didn't blow away, it's calmed down alot here. Supposed to be in the 80's tomorrow?!??!! No damage here either just leaves everywhere and I just cleaned up the yard 2 days ago. Oh well, out I go again to vacuum, rake and sweep. Have a great weekend all!

Here's a pic of one of my survivors of the stoned chipmonks...

Chuck,
You must have done something to right to get such a great neighbor! How very generous of him. Especially since the weatherman calls for the next three months to be wetter than usual. I hope he's right. Everything needs the deep water it didn't get last winter DH did the same thing here, wow, maybe it was 2 years ago, when we had such a wet winter. French drains around the house. Only problem is he destoyed the pathway on one of my favorite areas and left me with a gully there now so that when I water, I'm always slogging through water. I would nag, but he's working on a lot of other things also....
Aguane, maybe they don't like yellow? Wonder if there's anything you could interplant with them that would deter chippies...ornamenta lgarlic or chives?
Sherry

Well, hopefully, we have no stoned crittters or any such thing around here. The buds of the Icelandic poppies just keep getting bigger and bigger and they still haven't opened yet. Another day of wind today, even though the temps were at 79 degrees!! More rain on Thursday and Friday and bad winds again on Saturday. Maybe Sunday will be pretty so I can dig up my garlic plants...LOL

Thanks,

Chuck

A little rain, a little dry....back and forth. What a strange winter we're having.

Yes, it is a strange winter. I wonder what February will be like?

Take care,

Chuck