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Poppys
Greetings all,
I have just planted a wild Poppy that I picked up at the road side, Anyone have any care tips? It is a bit droopy this morning but I think it will pull through. Cheers Barnze -- Keep Smiling Look after ya family --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.489 / Virus Database: 288 - Release Date: 10/06/2003 |
Poppys
Barnze wrote:
Greetings all, I have just planted a wild Poppy that I picked up at the road side, Anyone have any care tips? It is a bit droopy this morning but I think it will pull through. Cheers Barnze Poppies don't like being transplanted at all. I'm assuming by "wild" poppy you mean either P. rhoeas (the common scarlet field poppy), or P. somniferum (the pink/purple opium poppy). Neither of these will generally survive a transplant, I'm afraid. Alternately, the good news is they're a doddle to grow from seed, so go back to the roadside in a few weeks when the flowering is all over and the plants look pretty much dead, snip of a few seedheads and sow them next spring right where you want to grow them. Or get a packet of seeds from the market, they're dead cheap. I'm a big poppy fan - P. bracteatum is a wonder... Thes. |
Poppys
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Poppys
"Thes" wrote in a message: The good news is poppies are a doddle to grow from seed, so go back to the roadside in a few weeks when the flowering is all over and the plants look pretty much dead, snip of a few seedheads and sow them next spring right where you want to grow them. I'm a big poppy fan - P. bracteatum is a wonder... Thes. --------------------- Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? Roscoe |
Poppys
In article , Roscoe
writes --------------------- Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? It's not that plants actively *dislike* rich soils, it's that some plants aren't strong enough to compete against some of the other thugs. There are then two ways to evolve - either become a thug yourself, or specialise in colonising soils which are too poor for the thugs to survive. Corn field poppies are annuals. It's difficult for an annual to develop thuggish tendencies (though goosegrass has managed it ;-) ). The poppy's strategy is to produce a large quantity of seed that remain viable for very many years, and germinate quickly when exposed to light. So when the ground is disturbed, eg ploughed for sowing corn, the poppy is in there and away. But it won't manage to compete against more thuggish plants. Alkanet is a real thug. I wouldn't have thought of red campion as a thug, but it is a perennial. If you want to get white campion and teasel going, sow them in seed trays and plant out as small plants - we've established white campion in a meadow by doing that. There's no point trying that with poppies as they are annuals, and fairly spindly ones at that - by the time they're big enough to transplant, they're already flowering and aren't going to last much longer. -- Kay Easton Edward's earthworm page: http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm |
Poppys
Roscoe wrote in message ... Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? Don't worry too much about them, they will eventually germinate. Poppy seeds can lie dormant for many years and as far as I recall, need disturbed soil and light to germinate. The field of Field beans round my house is full of poppies, as it is every year as the farmer will not use weedkillers on his fields. Mike www.british-naturism.org.uk |
Poppys
The message
from "Roscoe" contains these words: Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. He's got it a bit backwards. Wildflowers don't mind rich soil, but that category includes coarse powerful stuff like cocksfoot grass/nettles/docks which shade out more delicate and desirable plants. So if you're growing a wildflower area, it's important not to fertilise it, and to remove the coarse plants before they take over. I've grown white campion and teasels easily from seed, but in bare dug soil (quite rich, too). Field poppies also seed best onto bare recently cultivated soil ,that's why they proliferate in cornfields.If you're scattering the seeds among established plants they probably won't get enough light to germinate. Clear a bare patch for them, break the soil surface, and they should do fine. Janet. |
Poppys
On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 05:37:40 +0100, Roscoe wrote:
Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? Some of these weedy annuals are, like their cousins the real weeds, lovers of disturbed soils. Dig over that bed late in the summer and I bet you that next spring you'll see your misssing poppies, teasels, and campions coming up. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
Poppys
"Roscoe" wrote in
: "Thes" wrote in a message: The good news is poppies are a doddle to grow from seed, so go back to the roadside in a few weeks when the flowering is all over and the plants look pretty much dead, snip of a few seedheads and sow them next spring right where you want to grow them. I'm a big poppy fan - P. bracteatum is a wonder... Thes. --------------------- Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? Apart from the suggestions already made, it could be pests. I have tried red field poppies repeatedly, but the same thing happens - the slugs munch the seedlings before they get to flower. I thought at first they weren't coming up, then realised that they were - they just didn't last long enough to bloom. I guess that the disturbed earth that favours poppies does not favour slugs so much. I too have forests of red campion ;-) Victoria |
Poppys
Mine seems to be coping well with the transplanting & has now flowered so
all looks well. Cheers Barnze -- Keep Smiling Look after ya family "Victoria Clare" wrote in message . 240.11... "Roscoe" wrote in : "Thes" wrote in a message: The good news is poppies are a doddle to grow from seed, so go back to the roadside in a few weeks when the flowering is all over and the plants look pretty much dead, snip of a few seedheads and sow them next spring right where you want to grow them. I'm a big poppy fan - P. bracteatum is a wonder... Thes. --------------------- Last year and the year before I did just as you recommend, gathered field poppy seedheads. Shook the seeds out around the wildflower part of my garden and guess what? Not one germinated. The same with teasels and white campion. I asked for advice from a gardening friend who said that he thought that my soil is far too rich for wild flowers and that they will only grow in impoverished soil. Why then do I have red campion and alkanet growing very happily almost everywhere? Apart from the suggestions already made, it could be pests. I have tried red field poppies repeatedly, but the same thing happens - the slugs munch the seedlings before they get to flower. I thought at first they weren't coming up, then realised that they were - they just didn't last long enough to bloom. I guess that the disturbed earth that favours poppies does not favour slugs so much. I too have forests of red campion ;-) Victoria --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.490 / Virus Database: 289 - Release Date: 16/06/2003 |
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