soppy poppy

[Grandma]

My oriental poppies - (this one's about 10" tall) - don't usually get to this stage until late April/early May  :o Down here on the south coast we may miss out on the threatened snow but probably not the promised 'arctic blast'  - do you think the poor things will survive?

[Grandma]

[honeybee]

Grandma, mine are about that stage too, if not a bit shorter and when i noticed the other day, i had to do a quick double take as they are never that far on at this time of the year  :o

The only thing is if they flower too soon and its still windy there is not much hope of them being in bloom too long which is such a shame as they are such special flowers.

[Grandma]

You're right, Honeybee - would be awful if they got blown to pieces in their prime. (Or frosted :o :o!) They are so lovely! Mine are usually in bloom at the same time as my bearded irises - but those are only about 8" tall at the mo with no signs of buds yet, of course. Back to the poppies - I find that, if I chop the plants right down to an inch or two high after they've finished their spring flowering, I get a second (smaller) flush of flowers in late summer. Do you do that? It's worth a go!  ;)

[honeybee]

Yes i keep reading that you can do that, but so far have never had the courage  :)

Maybe this year I might try, as it would be so lovely to have a second flowering.
Thanks for reminding me   :-*

[honeybee]

Heres a pic of some of my poppies that I think was from last year.

[kitten]

Beautiful poppies honeybee, i'm jealous!

[Grandma]

Aren't they fabulous! Just love that brilliant scarlet colour! I grew mine from seed and have a lovely mix of colours from white through pinks/peachy shades - (my avatar is one of the deeper peachy ones) - to orange, scarlet and deep red. O and I also have a sort of pinky/lilac-ey/silvery one. (Super photo too, Honeybee! I can almost feel the warm sunshine!  :-*)