Help with Oriental Poppies

I planted a collection of 5 different types of Oriental Poppies from Dutch Gardens in the Fall (when they told me they should be planted). I top dressed with compost/manure earlier this season and none of them seem to have come up yet. I do have some little plants where the poppies should be, but I've looked online at the foliage and I think they're weeds and I was initially mistaken (not poppies! boo hoo!)

When do poppies break ground and should they be up and at 'em by now? Is it conceivably possible that the entire lot of the 5 poppies were duds? I'm very sad as I was looking forward to nice poppies for the cutting garden, but I'm a big old newbie so don't know what I'm doing.

Can anyone give me some advice on whether or not I should give up on the poppies this season, call the company and complain and plant something else in their spot until next fall when I can get more perennial poppies in the ground?

Thanks!

Hi Wishful, so sorry to hear about your Oriental poppies, what a shame you feel let down, they are really very easy plants to grow to be honest, but for now, I would say you should be seeing signs of greenery by now, I cant comment on the company you got them from as I am in UK, but maybe some other of Dave's Gardening friends can come in and answer that question re the plant comp.
For now though, have you marked the spot where you actually planted your Poppies, sometimes we forget and cant remember the exact spot till we get a surprise later on, I am unclear as to how you have not even got 1 plant through right now,
If you know the exact spot, I would gently scrape away some of the mulch and compost to have a little nosey under this to see if there is any sign of life, like very gentle as the foliage and roots underground will be really tender and soft as it has not been exposed to any light, air and sunshine to harden it off yet, if you see things like roots or tiny buds, then cover it over again and they should start to shoot very soon, all poppy roots look pale and lightish, not the dirt of-course, but the actual roots, they grow into a kind or crown rather like a longish root with a small top spread out, the top part is where the new growth comes from and sends out the foliage and flowers, these poppies have huge flower heads but not really all that good for cutting, as with all poppies, they have a milky sap from the cut part of the stem, unless you cut the flowers when there is the very slightest bit of colour showing on the bud, you will have wilted flowers by the time you get indoors with the flowers, the petals are like tissue paper and tear very easy, but that dont mean to say it is impossible to cut and enjoy indoors.
Once you have inspected the earth where you planted your poppies and there is absolutely no sign of root at all, or rotted root remnants, then go back to the company and tell them you are very unsatisfied and want refund or more plants in place off, if they are reputable, there will be no problem, but not all plant companies are like for like.
maybe try growing them from seed next time as they are very easy to grow this way, buy the seed, sprinkle a pinch into a pot with good compost, dont cover the seeds as they are like dust and being so small, germinate better with some daylight, once the seedlings are large enough to handle, separate the seedlings using a pen or pencil to help dig them free from the compost and replant each seedling either outside or into it's own little pot till they are large enough to go outdoors, they may not flower this year now, but they will next year and each one after, they like full sun and well drained soil to grow well, mulch in autumn to protect the roots, dead head the flowers or you will weaken your plants and also they reseed everywhere unless you want a whole yard of poppies. good luck. hope this is some help. WeeNel.

I mulched my poppy area pretty heavily, and when I raked the mulch off, some of the Oriental poppies were whitish and struggling to get out of the mulch. If you haven't removed the mulch from on top of them, they may still be under there and be viable. Good luck,
T
Theresa

I think they should be out and preparing to bloom by now in MA. I took this photo of one of many oriental poppy buds in my garden this morning in Zone 5, near Toronto. These are well established plants though.

Hi There,

I bought a house 2 gardening seasons ago, and have been bringing old plants back to life and planting a ton more. I have three new gardens, and I'm starting a woodland garden next.

Anyway, I have two oriental poppies that I didn't plant. I wasn't sure what they were at first, and figured it out when I saw the flower shoot. I did not mulch much over them this past fall. I also left the leaves alone, and didn't cut it back. I'm in upstate NY. I also sprinkled some flower fertilizer around them and all my other flowers. It does seem to help. I would gently get rid of the mulch over the top of them with your fingers and see what you have. My poppies are old (I think) and they are huge right now and I'm zone 5.

I ordered from Dutch Bulbs over the winter, and received my roots, tubers, etc. this spring. I'm not crazy about planting roots vs. potted plants. I purchased Acteaea Hillside Black Beauty, two White Feather Hostas, a Mouse plant and some candlestick plants. My Acteaea and White Hostas are fine. The others did not come up. I'm pretty experienced and like I said, I'm not thrilled with planting roots, tubers, etc. I paid a good sum of $$ for the Acteaea, so I was so happy to see the little sprout that I have come out of the ground!

I'm still going to hold out and watch the ground like a nut, but I don't think the other plants will make it this year.

Once the poppy's are established, they dont really like their roots being disturbed, so these are one of the few plants that I would by as rooted plants unless you were to be splitting up a clump in your own garden then you could be lucky, I have done ok splitting up mine, but also had more failures, but they do grow very easy from seeds sewn in either late autumn or early spring, they germinate very fast too, just dont cover the seeds as they are so fine they are like dust particles, so a small pinch of seeds will give you dozens of plants, with the oriental type, I have not had the same success of germination sewing seeds out in the open garden, good luck. WeeNel.

Wishful, I would definately call Dutch gardens; your poppies should be practically blooming by now (mine are.) I've had good experience w/ them, and they should replace your plants. Well, by good experience, I mean they replaced all the dead ones, and there were more than I'd care to mention...

Thanks! I called Dutch Gardens and they were wonderful about refunding me. At this point, it's pretty silly to replant them this season. I'll try again next time. I was pretty pleased with how accomodating the company was, though. Thanks for the advice- it would never have occured to me to call them as I always just assume a certain risk of loss when planting stuff from the mail.

Any good growers will want to know if things are not right so they can rectify things for future, some dont give a fig, but good companies will be happy to be informed and refund, also they like to know if you were happy with your plants and not too many people tell them the good news, good luck for next year, do try some seeds as I said before, they are one of the easiest plants to grow from seeds, as are all the poppy family with the exception of the blue Himalayan type becaues they like acid soil and a bit of shade too. best wishes. Weenel.

I have been trying to grow oriental poppies for (4) years now. I have purchased them from WWF and various nurseries during the growing season. They were all just babies and never grew very big the first year. By the next spring most of them did not some back, I can not for the life of me figure out what the roblem is!!!

I too am very dissapointed as I was sooooooo looking forward to the BRIGHT FLASHES of color from Patty's Plum and Watermelon, Black and white, etc., in my garden this spring!!! I guess its the transplanting, they don't like it.

I have found that bare root poppies are harder to get started. I have had success with poppies bought growing in pots. Spring planting or summer planting has given me more success. Fall planting bare root has had no success for me.

The plants will put out new foliage in the fall, when you are successful, which is an indication that they will over-winter and will be there in the spring.

I have a number of nice plants. Each year they get larger, once you get them going.