RE: Oriental Poppies - Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

> Thanks for your suggestions.  However, there are no such signs,
> only general
> lack of vigor and finally dying.  I have been growing oriental poppies for
> over 20 years and never experienced anything like this.  Some of my plants
> that for years have sent up 20 - 30 blooms are this year sending
> up only 4 or
> 5 if that.  I can't figure it out.  The rest of the plants are covered in
> stems loaded with buds.

Just an odd thought...

What you're describing sounds like something that happens to my plants after
'warmer' wet winters...in fact, I lost one plant like that a just couple of
seasons ago.  It spurted into growth, slowed drastically (without blooming)
and went into dormancy early and forever.  You're quite a bit north but,
with El Nino's help, you might get enough climatic tempering and wetness due
to lake effect to have experienced one of our warmer wet winters.  Your
poppies might have caught a winter chill/cold and what you think of as good
drainage might not be good enough to combat problems occurring in El Nino
seasons.  Half frozen ground does change drainage, you know, and could be
enough to cause problems.

Just an odd thought...a thought I had while staring at Penstemon 'Husker
Red'...which collapsed into a rotted pile rather than blooming...a plant
that has, up to now, been a relatively carefree workhorse in my garden.

Barb in Southern Indiana    Zone 5/6     <dorsett@kiva.net>
  Midwest Gardener    http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/430
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