Re: poppies--bad seed
- Subject: Re: poppies--bad seed
- From: E*@aol.com
- Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 19:30:04 EDT
In a message dated 10/22/02 11:02:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Blee811@aol.com writes:
>
> ===>I wonder if these auction sellers are sprinkling seeds from bottles of
> poppy seed bought at the grocery store and selling them. I don't know
> whether
> these have been treated so they don't germinate or what.
If the seeds are kept in sealed containers they can mold unseen and not
germinate. If they are selling baking seeds, the seed is probably treated to
avoid molds. Also one wonders where the seller obtains such large amounts of
seed on the eBay auctions. The sellers are coy and aiming at papaver
somniferum or opium poppy as something other than a garden flower, the
suggestion is there.
The sale of the seed is legal and as I understand it the growing of the seed
is not. It does however grow all over the Northeast in most gardens so I
guess the point is that unless it is grown in long rows in a field you are
not a law-breaker. Most of the gardens in my town contain these poppies.
Immigrants have long grown them for a pastry filling, my mother-in-law did.
The seeds are ground with raisins and used in baking. There are several
varieties that produce especially large pods and these would be favored by
the bakers.
For most opium poppies a start is all you need. They tend to make a great
deal of seed, each plant, and you will never be without them.
All poppies like dry soil and on site planting. If you have a vigorous
strain, it does not matter if sown on the snow. Ours fall all over the place
and grow in cracks in the driveway, they are left alone all winter and do
fine in spring. We collect the pinks and the seed is so generously
produced, a pint canning jar full of them is easy to pick up over the summer.
They are so numerous, the ordinary pinks, that they need to be thinned in
places and weeded out in others. Here in upstate New York, this is not poppy
country but we do fine with most of them as long they are not grown in moist
or heavy damp soils.
Maybe the present eBay sellers are not really gardeners selling some excess.
There has been a difference in the approach over the last two years. Seeds
are not usually sold by tablespoons but by metric weight so something is
funny there. Beg some seeds from a gardener friend with healthy plants.
Thompson and Morgan also sell the seeds. Most American catalogs use a
different botanic name but can be found without too much trouble.
Claire Peplowski
NYS z4
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