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Posted by AngelaWatson (U3126654) on Monday, 21st June 2010
Just wondering what best to do with my poppies once the flowering period is over, can I cut off the seed heads and then store them till dry so I get more free seed?
Also am I best to just leave the foilage alone or to chop it back down to base level?
Thanks
Last weeks GW explained how to do this.
The secret is to wait until the seed pod is about to explode, then catch the seeds and scatter this summer/autumn. Doing it too early will mean the seeds remain under ripe.
cut back hard to 7cm from the soil , give it a good feed ,because some varieties will give a second flush of flowers.
I have never waited for the seed pods to explode, unless this is a feature particularly of oriental poppies.
They should ripen and dry, off the stalk perfectly well, in a plastic bag in the shed.
There are so many millions that when you cast them out early next year, there will be plenty there to produce full size specimens the coming year.
Excuse me,......
I was just messing about with the smileys and it got printed. But thinking about it ... it will do for everyone while Im away, Have fun in all your gardens and I hope mine is in safe hands till I get back. Mo.
The answers so far seem to relate to both oriental and annual (somniferum) poppies.
Assuming we are talking about the perennial Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) with green hairy leaves, then shearing them back hard is the right advice. They will die back to almost nothing and look a right mess otherwise. New leaves will sprout in autumn or spring when they've had a rest.
Annual poppies, Papaver somniferum, with smooth blue/green leaves should be left, if you liked the colour, and the seed collected or distributed. You can then pull the plant up as it's a goner.
Yes the roots of more or less any Papaver are finished once the year is finished.
It is seeds either propagated or self spread for the following year.
The Californian poppy (Californiensis?) seems to carry on to the next year with the same root system, although I'm not sure.
They are so different in the way they behave, lasting for the whole season, flowering from different shoots again and again.
To clarify here is a particularly instructive Wikipedia page on the FAMILY Papaveraceae, not just the genus or the species.
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