I let a lot of annual poppies self-seed, mostly in the vegetable section of the garden. At first glace, you would think that there are only lots of identical pinkish opium poppies (Papaver sommiferum) and red corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas). But when you have a closer look, you realize that hardly any two flowers are alike.
.JPG "Papaver somniferum")
Papaver rhoeas
The corn poppies are mostly red, but the colour intensity varies a lot from one flower to the next, and the markings inside the petals also vary a good deal, going from no marking at all to dark splotches.
Here are some examples:
This is the typical rhoas in the garden.
_Fotor.jpg "Papaver rhoeas")
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| Shirley poppies |
The flowers vary a lot from year to year. There is a great mixing of genes. These poppies all hybridize freely to produce results that are sometimes unexpected.
For instance, we used to have a lot of double red ones, but no more. They might reappear though.
This year I only have one or two Shirley poppies from seeds produced by the plants I had last year (like the pink and white above and the orange double below). I seeded new ones (because with new seeds there is a greater variety of colours than you can obtain from self-seeding). However no Shirley poppies came up.
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| Shirley poppy |
Last year we had a lot of these 'dirty' purple ones, but there is only one clump this year. Not only is the colour different, but they seem to stay wrinkled!I waited for these petals to spread out as the petals of other poppies do, but these never did. The wrinkled look gives them a certain charm.
Papaver somniferum
Except that the pink are sometimes half way to lavender
and the double are sometimes just about single.
They can even be of an entirely a different colour. If you like markings, check out this gorgeous somniferum, which is half black. It is the first time we get this particular striking combination of colours. When we get a poppy that stands out like this one, we make sure to collect seeds and sow them in different places to encourage the strain.
The following is a new addition, the result of seeds I bought last winter. It is lovely, but the seeds produced very few blooms, and so I don't think they will have much effect on the gene pool! With poppies, seeds you buy never germinate as well as seeds that ripen and self-seed in the garden.
Some gardeners find these annual poppies too weedy. They are weedy by easily removed. To me they are one of the great pleasures of summer.
What variety! We have only one "oriental" poppy, carried over from my dad's garden. It is at least forty years old and remains one old, single plant.
ReplyDeleteThey are even more impressive than the annual ones.
DeleteThe half black poppy is really striking.
ReplyDeleteI hope I get more next year. I put a marker to remind me to collect the seeds.
DeleteWhat fun! The snapdragon seed I collected from only one plant last year has proven that they self-hybridize too. I love such surprises!
ReplyDeleteWe get self seeded poppies too and have lots of the lavender and double pink ones popping up on the ploy as well as one or two in the garden. I just weed any out that are in an inconvenient place
ReplyDeleteThey are so easy to pull out when they grow where you don't want them.
DeleteVery lovely. All the variations are beautiful. I was inspired by your post last year to get some poppy seeds, but never got around to sowing them. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteBeware that when the corn poppies have settled in, you might have them for good!
DeleteWhat a wonderful selection of poppies you have, so colourful. We had such a lot last year in the veggie garden but I forgot to sow the seed this spring!!!
ReplyDeleteThey are colorful. This would have been a good year for me to try meconopsis. Although the summer was very sunny, it was cooler than usual.
DeleteA lovely selection and part of the fun is never knowing what you are going to get. I have noticed that bought seeds don' t germinate so well. The black opium poppies I sowed last year didn' t come up at all.
ReplyDeleteThe seeds seem to lose a lot of viability. I seeded two packets of Shirleys this spring and got 3 or 4 flowers. Some years though you get a lot. It probably is a mixture of viability and weather.
DeleteMore than enough poppies for everyone there Alain, I manage to grow Papaver commutatum 'Ladybird' in pots sometimes which I rather like and have one or two Orientals in the herbaceous border which seem to be more tolerant but in general it is the usual lack of sun which prevents me and believe me I have tried! On the plus side this means I can have my hybridising fun with candelabra primulas instead.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried 'Ladybird' but have seen advertized in Thompson & Morgan. It looks quite nice. You certainly are not short changed being able to play with candelabra primula.
DeleteVery interesting! I didn't know that poppies would freely hybridize like columbine. I love the Papaver rhoess.
ReplyDeleteIf you grow several varieties they will. Of course if you buy seeds of let us say Ladybird the flowers will all be the same, at least for the first generation. But even bought seeds can be mixed. For instance Shirley poppies, usually come in mixtures and you don't know exactly what you will get. As Chloris says, it is part of the fun.
DeleteLove those photos. They are almost enough to make me try growing poppies again. They - all varieties - are among my favorite flowers, but so far I've failed miserably.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what it is they don't like. Could it be the heat? Are there people near you who grow them? As Sunil says below, they grow best left to themselves. These annual poppies will only grow where they decide to grow. But since they are quite prolific once established, you can remove the ones that are in the way. It takes a while before they get established. The ones you seed from a package do not do much in the first year but if you let them self seed, there will be more of then the next year.
DeletePoppies are one of those plants that will simply not grow when carefully sown in controlled conditions, but only when you've forgotten about them and turned the beds over and planted them up will they suddenly start appearing. They seem to be very promiscuous and hybridise easily. I wonder how many completely unique poppies you have in the garden, where the flower colour, shape and form cannot be found anywhere else?
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right, they need to be left to themselves. As for diversity, I expect they are like human beings - some are quite similar but if you examine them closely, you will find that none are completely identical.
DeleteAll the varieties are beautiful Alain!
ReplyDeleteLove poppies although I have no them in my garden at all, I think they do not love my garden soil. Or I can't plant them correctly:))
I have my stitching picture "Poppies" where I stitched red and blue ones. I'm nor sure if the blue poppies exist.
The blue poppy does exist but it is a meconopsis, not a papaver. They only grow where summers are cold. I would have been a good year to try them this year as our summer was cooler than usual. Normally we are far too hot for them.
DeleteHow could anyone resist a poppy?!!! I love the first one for its sumptuous looks but all of them are charming. One year I grew Hen and chicken which is quite unusual. At Chelsea I got a very dark, almost black one which will be sown next year. Great images, well done Alain :)
ReplyDeleteDo show us picture of the very dark one you got at Chelsea once you have it blooming.
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