GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

zxcvbob · 24-07-2006, 08:30 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
Hello,

Have posted now & then. I live in Northern New England. Now, I have a
question about annual poppies. I grow corn poppies and some are true
red but turn orange red after being in bloom for a time (week or two).
Is there a variety that is deep red or even mahogany or purplish red?
The sparkle of the field poppy is hard to beat. I also grow oriental
poppies, Shirley poppies, Cedric Morris poppies, & some California
poppies. I was not planning on growing any field poppies this year,
but they reseeded and I have left many in place.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Karen

There were some frilly double red poppies that resembled opium poppies
but were a lot smaller growing in my back flower bed for years. All of
them were bright red; no variations. They were annuals and reseed
freely, but the dogs destroyed them last year and they didn't come back
this year. I never figured out what the were, but I think they were a
variety of Papaver rhoeas. I'm hoping there are still seeds in the
ground that may come back next year if I can get the grass out out of
that bed without turning the ground over too much and burying them deep.
I saw some hollyhock seedlings in there this year after I weeded out
the grass, from hollyhocks I grew 2 or 3 years ago, and a lily that I
thought they had killed.

This has not been a good year for gardening; I hurt my back really bad
over a month ago and it's just now getting to where I can work in the
garden a little. At least the dogs are staying out of the garden and
flowerbeds now. I have a wire around them that looks like an electric
fence.

Bob, in Minnesota