A Plethora of Poppies: The Garden Gods Take Charge
You can’t be too rich, too thin or have too many poppies. Some of you may remember my March blog when I wrote about longing for swathes of poppies and sowing them in pots to achieve success. To my surprise and delight, I’ve gotten a lot more than I bargained for. Not only do I have poppies starting to bloom in pots, random seedlings have taken over the entire garden. You know how they say be careful what you wish for? I fantasized about big swathes of poppies and got them in spades. Here’s what happened.
Act one: While I was impatiently obsessing over my little nursery of pots, I noticed a few poppy seedlings coming up here and there. I didn’t think much of it at first. I sowed them in the middle of the bed the previous year, (a paltry showing) and figured they were repeats.
As weeks passed, a few turned into a big mess of them, crowding out everything else. They were nowhere near the previous crop. Nope - they plopped themselves smack in the front of the beds. I never planted any tall varieties, and it was obvious that these was going to be at least three feet high. I couldn’t figure out where the heck they came from.
While I was puzzling over this, a friend texted a photo of Nigella (aka Love in a Mist) seedlings coming up all over his garden. The source of his delight? A dried Christmas wreath made at our annual wreath making get together at our friend Nellie Gardners Flower Farm. I made one too. Mine was full of poppy pods and it hung on the front door all winter. Obviously the seeds blew off into the front of the beds when I opened and closed the door.
The source? Wreath making with dried materials. I’m glad I didn’t put anything aggressive on it.
This is what I had in mind when I said I longed for swathes of poppies. I suppose they look a little out of scale in the front of the bed, but who cares? The garden gods heard my call and delivered. I’m guessing that the seeds from the wreath, a cool spring and lots of rain helped promote their success.
I’m pretty sure that the deep purple poppy is ‘Lauren’s Grape’, I can’t identify the salmon colored one.
Act two: Success in pots as well. They all germinated and are coming along nicely, but not as hefty as the ones that seeded themselves. Below is an unnamed heirloom poppy from seeds a friend sent me. As you can see, they’re thickly planted. I gave up on the idea of thinning them out after squirrels left big holes in some of the containers.
Heirloom poppies are just beginning to develop flower pods.
I planted a variety of poppies and labeled them to keep track of my favorites for future ordering. Below is a small pot containing a dear little Shirley Poppy, aptly named ‘Angels Choir,’ is one I want repeats of.
‘Angels Choir’, a Shirley poppy from Renee’s Garden
As planned, I’ve placed containers among existing perennials and nestled them into the surrounding foliage. This California poppy ‘Tropical Sunset’ adds a little pop to golden oregano beside it.
Here it is again in a pot on the patio. I dropped a few of the plastic pots into ornamental containers - an easy way to have a bit of flash early in the game.
(photo courtesy of Victoria Cherry)
It’s handy to have pots to fill holes left from bulbs, dead plants etc.
Lessons learned to make next year even better:
Start pots in late fall or winter next year for earlier bloom.
Sow them all at once instead of a few every week.
Make sure the size of the plastic pots fit whatever ornamental container I’m going to put them in. (haha, had a few struggles there).
Thin them out more - next year I’ll protect them from the squirrels with netting as they get started.
Plant more.
On the other hand, I’m not sure I’m in charge of making anything better. I’d be hard put to top this.
