A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Question...Poppy Seed Heads

I've been working with my hubby lately, he repairs swimming pools, so I've come in contact with a lot of yards that are in full bloom right now. Yesterday, we went to someone's house that has these huge... 3 to 3-1/2 ft. poppies growing all around. Gorgeous red flowers, purple in the center. They weren't home to ask about them, and being the greedy little person I am, I swiped 3 of those big seed heads off of them.
So now what? I've never even seen these things growing around here before, so I haven't a clue as to when to sow the seeds or whether I can sow directly or have to start them indoors or what kind of soil environment they prefer...nada. Please help me out with this.

Hello dishmanlady,

didn t have any puppy myself(no kids either ) but i would,and i may be way off,start them in some kind of peat ,potting soil something like that if you get my drift....and we ll grow red puppies so everyone can remember Flander s field.

dishmanlady, I am sorry but I don't know a thing about poppies except that they are pretty.

Francine however I do have an answer to your swimming pool water + plants question. Out at my mom's she still has (in active use) the large aboveground pool that we had when I was a kid growing up. To this day she still has plants getting splashed by it to what seems to be no detrimental effect. She's had Irises, not sure what kind they are, blue and white, possibly bearded irises. There have been hostas, a sugar maple, wild rhubarb (or that's what they told me it was anyway) and to make it all silly and worse the pool is next to a farmer's feild and his beans/wheat/alfalfa/corn have never been harmed by the pool water. Hope that helps!

hi plant faerie,

i thank you very much for your infosit is apreciated,if ever i can give you the change don t hesitate. i think i ll have some more hostas near the pool,there are some nice varieties.

thanks again.

Hi dishmanlady maybe I can help a little bit,there are 2 kinds of poppies the annual and perenial,I plantet the perennial one as a division from a friend they form nice clumps and go dormant in summer i have not tried with seeds.The annuals selfseed freely,I collect the seedheads,they should be brown,they dislike transplanting so sow them where you want them.Hope that helps

We had poppies growing in our yard in the past, and last year, I threw some seed in the corner of our yard, so we had these gorgeous red flowers come up. The ones we have are not flat, but full like gigantic carnations. You can also use the seed for baking. We normally have short seasons of hot or warm spells for our summer, so just planting seed outdoors, once the danger of frost is past,is enough, I don't think you need to start them indoors.

Oriental Poppies are one of my garden favorites. It's a little warm for them here in SC, but they seem to be hanging on and doing quite well this year.
Just a thought concerning the seeds u collected... Papaver Orientale, which is Oriental Poppy (bright red flower, with dark center) will self-seed, but the flower from the new plant will have the typical orange flowers of the species. I guess it doesn't matter, because i'm sure they are still very stunning!