On Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:22:35 +0100, Pete C wrote:

I have a couple of seed heads from a poppy growing wild on a vacant plot
near mine. Can I grow poppys from this, if so, how? Thanks

As long as the poppyheads were starting to loose colour/go brown it will
be fine (it is possible to take them too early). Put them in a brown
paper bag and as the pods dry holes will open round the side and the
seeds can be skaken out into the paper bag.

In the wild the seeds are dropped into the soil, covered lightly by
winter soil disturbance, and root in place. You may prefer to plant them
in late spring, loosing less to pests and rot. Make a light, flat,
seedbed, water well, sprinkle the seeds & cover lightly with anything to
hand (riddled soil, old peat compost, sand). Keep moist but not wet &
they will grow.

Like others say, they self-sew very easily if left, so long as they like
the conditions - and it has to be very wet, very shady, or very acid to
put them off. There can be 5,000 to 10,000 seeds to the gram, and one
head can produce more than a gram. The seed can stay viable in the soil
for up to a century, sprouting if disturbed and brought to the surface.

Papaver rhoeas is one of my favourite sights as wildflowers. I know
farmers think them a pernicious weed, but I defy anyone not to smile when
they see a red wash of them along a field edge. To my Grandfather they
were the Flanders poppy, he would stand up a little straighter when he
saw them. Although he would not have the paper ones in the house, as
they had Earl Haig's name in the middle.

To me they bring back memories of another old man, once a partisan and a
refugee priest of the orthodox church, who lived in an abandoned railway
station. He grew poppies, red and purple, in his garden, and carefully
collected the seeds for poppy-seed cake. He painted icons for a living,
and filled notebooks with exquisite paintings of birds, insects, and fish
he saw on his daily walks. He made illegal slimovitz, vodka, and opium,
and poppy seed cake, all for his own consumption. He lived out his
later life in harmless isolation, interested only in wildlife and
painting. And poppy seed cake.


--
Bob Harvey