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Re: Poppies (p. somniferum)

Back to my favourite reference book RHS Encyclopedia
Under the description for P.Somniferum,  Paeony Flowered" is listed as one
of the varieties.
I also have a packet of Dr. Fothergills 'Poppy - Paeony Flowered Mixed"; but
no  latin name is given
Jean Walker, Toronto
jwalker@ilap.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Day <allan@crwys.demon.co.uk>
To: seeds-list@eskimo.com <seeds-list@eskimo.com>
Date: Friday, September 18, 1998 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: Poppies (p. somniferum)


>On Fri 18 Sep, Allan Day wrote:
>This was a private mailing but it seems to be of general interest so
>here goes.
>
>
>> On Fri 18 Sep, Lee anne Hayes wrote:
>> >
>> > I was interested to see your post today regarding poppies.
>> > I hope you can help and give me some instruction.
>> >
>> > I recently went to the health food store and bought a
>> > lot of poppy seeds, called papaver somniferum.  (Bread
>> > Box poppies)  I was so proud of myself to find them at
>> > such a reasonable price.  The nurseries sell poppy seed
>> > packets for about $ 1.79 for a tiny amount.  I paid $ .44
>> > for about 1/4 cup!!
>> > I live in Eastern Washington, USA, Zone 4/5 - gets down to
>> > -20F here in the winter, sometimes colder.  I think I heard
>> > that they should be planted in the fall.  When they
>> > come up in the spring, do I need to do anything else?
>> >
>> > As I have never grown them before, I would love to hear
>> > from you as to what you do.  How deep to plant, etc.
>> >
>> >....
>> > Lee Anne Hayes
> my reply:-
>> Papaver Somniferum is definitely the Opium Poppy. We grow it purely as
>> an ornamental of course.Where they grow it as a crop probably has a
>> totally different climate. I don't know for what reason your health food
>> store was selling it. We have tried various methods of propogating it
>> but it likes to self-seed, that is it comes up where it will from seed
>> dropped the previous year and as the seed is so small there are many of
>> these even from one head. We have various colours and shapes, there is
>> a bright pink, usually double, a strong red which I have only seen as
>> single and another one, single and double and intermediate whih varies
>> between off white to a strong mauve. A neighbour had a lovely orange
>> and I wanted to have some seed from him, but he suddenly got rid of
>> the lot. Ugh, tidy gardeners!
>> Now the strange thing is that although
>> these strains are growing mixed up I have never seen any crosses. To
>> keep and possibly enhance the colour balance I have been putting labels
>> on the stems of those I wish to keep, in balance, and pull the others
>> out ruthlessly. I have concluded that they geminate best from seed that
>> drops in the fall (we call autumn) and therefore gets a cold spell,
>> before germinating quite late the next spring and growing remarkably
>> quickly, during which period drastic thinning is usually required. by
>> all means sow, or more descriptively scatter the seeds on somewhere that
>> they can lie on the surface, and next spring go over the soil with a
>> small handfork removing all the weeds, then leave it alone and see what
>> happens. I would expect however that what you bought would be likely to
>> come up all one colour but you will have to see what happens.
>> Someone has come up on the list with a remark that p. somniferum is sold
>> under a 'common name',(paeony flowered) I shall check back and see
>> what that is all about. Good luck, and I would be very interested in a
>> report next year.
>see also my submission The Full Works
>--
>Allan Day  Hereford HR2 7AU allan@crwys.demon.co.uk
>
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