Poppies from Seed

It’s nearly two years since I started the Alternative Kitchen Garden Seed Appeal, with the aim of raising enough money to help the Millennium Seed Bank save a species. We still have a way to go to reach the target ;(

The latest addition to the garden is a Gardman poppy bird feeder. I’ve popped it in the border and filled it with seed for the moment, but it can be used as a water dish in the summer – it’s made from painted cast iron. I was given mine by Gardman for review purposes, but they’re being sold to raise money for The Royal British Legion, as part of their annual poppy appeal. Gardman want to raise £200,000 for the charity, and 50p from the sale of each feeder will be donated. There’s a special bird food range to go with it, also including a donation to the poppy appeal.

Members of the Buttercup family are called Ranunculaceae. To grow the plants successfully beware the seeds tend to have a short period of viability and need planting straight away.

Since I put this list together 7 years ago but I have now started to favour Kings Seeds (Suffolk Herbs) for my vegetables. I also get many more seeds from clubs and organisations rather than merchants.

Decorative gardens can benefit from growing seedheads for their own sake. Flowers With Seedheads

Think before you allow poppies to proliferate. Poppies rob a lot of goodness from your soil.

Nemesia are good flowers for rock gardens, containers or for use as a bedding and front of border plants. Surprisingly they also make a nice and useful cut flower.

This is largely from a post I did in 2013 with some updates. Seeing the colour in my garden and watching the single flowers close up for the evening I decided to buy some more seeds for next summer (I hope I can find the space to do them justice) I opted for ‘Copper Swirl’ by TM and for an extra 99p I got ‘Golden West Californian Poppy’ thrown in.  I am tempted to sow half of each packet shortly although the blurb on the packet suggests waiting until Feb or March next year.

Mesclun is a name for a traditional melange of salad leaves. The name mesclun doesn’t feature in any of my gardening reference books before 1980 so old gardeners may not recognise the term.

Blue Heaven: Encounters with the Blue Poppy by Bill Terry from amazon Bill Terry is a leading North American authority on Asiatic poppies relates his own encounters with the blue poppy and shows how, given a suitable climate, a patient and persistent gardener can raise this most alluring of perennial plants. The origins of Meconopsis are expounded along with comments about those who first discovered and grew the plants. A personal account, fun to read and adds to the collective knowledge.

Poppies are easy to grow, sometimes too easy  because they self sow all over my garden and despite the delicate petals I thought of them as weeds. So much so that I forgot to photograph any earlier this year but now have captured some pictures of perfectly purple poppies.

The two best complimentary colours are Red and Green.  There are many ways this is demonstrated in the spring garden and they will be sure to draw compliments. The Peonies are just opening under a bit of shelter and shade.