Found my first buds today! Must've been brought on by the cooler temps and rain. (Uh huh!)
How have your poppies fared?
Poppy Report
How cool... now I will know what to look for! I love the jewels of water on the poppy leaves. I hope to see the same soon here.
Mine are across the creek, and I haven't been brave enough to wade thru the goopy lawn to get to them. I'll try tomorrow when it's warmer. I'm lucky I have any coming up, as I forgot to spread the seeds last year. The ones I have are strictly volunteers.
Thanks for the picture. I threw out some seeds last fall...and if I saw that would probably weed it!
LOL Anna! Here's a pic of some younger seedlings.
My poppies should be opening today or tomorrow. Here is a picture I took yesterday. I have a few plants that are over waist high and the buds are the size of walnuts. I'm super excited. Last year was the first year I had poppies. I got some from a relative (transplants) and they only got about 6-7" high. I collected the seeds from the largest plants and these monsters grew this year.
Here is a bud. My had in the pictures is a couple of inches from it for perspective.
WOW That is tall. How tall is normal? My are piddling. Think I saw one bud yesterday. Fingers crossed here... lol Please show your bloom when it opens?
Yeah, I'm not sure how tall is normal. I'll post a pic when they open. Each plant has numerous buds on it.
Mine were an afterthought when I planted them and a surprise when they sprouted. The seed were very vintage. Look forward to seeing everyones' blooms!
This is my first year to grow poppies. I WSed some seed from a trade that are supposed to look like 'Lauren's Grape'. They sprouted very early and I put them in beds while they are still small, but they are not growing much. The tallest is still only about 1" high. Will they grow enough this year to even bloom?
Probably, it's still early. I have some that sprouted from seed that are that small as well.
Well, that's good to know. I was at a friends house recently that had some 2' tall plants just blooming their fool heads off and I was a bit discouraged with mine, thinking maybe I should plant the seeds in the fall instead.
It's definately better to plant them in the fall.
All right! The first bloom started to open but I didn't get to see it as I was off to work. The next one got pummeled by wind and rain and hail!
Today, while I was outside and enjoying the day I was delighted to find this! These seeds waited patiently for many, many years just to bloom.
They were given to me by a man in his 70s. His Mother had grown them when he was around 10. When she died, he found a bag of seeds in her freezer and gave me a start of them. I have kept them for four or five years and never remember to plant them at the right time. Thanks to y'all, I managed this year but never expected to see anything... WOW!
Can you see me smiling??? LOL 8 ))))))))))))
Woohoo pod!! How exciting!
Most of my poppies have opened on days when the winds have been horrendous (like today) and have had all their petals blown off. I still try to take pics of them, though.
I know what you mean. They get shredded. Yesterday morning the wind hadn't kicked up yet and i was lucky to find three blooms. Tell me how and when to harvest seed. And, do I strow it right then for next year? Or wait till fall... I am hooked! LOL
I know nothing about harvesting seed, so we'll have to ask more experienced poppy fanatics. You will probably have enough to save some for fall, give some away, and to sow right at the time the pod ripens.
I wouldn't call myself experienced, but I did get this to work. Once the flower dies, keep checking until the pod is dried out enough to "rattle". In the past I've just shaken them around in the flowerbed, but this year I'm going to try to label them so I can remember what color they were, and collect some of the seed. After shaking them, nothing to do until they start to come up in February or March, then you need to thin them.
Great ~ thanks... I wondered if the pods changed color or anything?
Oh it a beauty, Pod!!!
I left my pods on the stalk. They do turn brown with time. If you leave them too long, the pod dries, it shrinks back at the top, leaving small holes. The pods are like salt shakers at that point, and the seeds will pour out of the top. If the pods get knocked over by the wind they can spill. From just a few plants, I get about 1/4 of a zip lock bag full of seeds.
Great ~ thank you. I am hooked on these guys.