Poppy Seeds

I blogged about the Heavenly Angels Poppies (Papaver paeoniflorum) here and here.

Last week I got some garden therapy and collected seeds.

I cut the tops off and let them fall into a shoe box. A little shake and the seeds spill out of the tiny openings at the top of the pod.

After I clean out the leaves, the seeds will be ready to share with friends. I’ll spread some in my garden in December - to fill the garden with brilliant color next June.

It's good to be back in the garden.

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Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2010

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As I walked around the garden clicking, collecting photos, I remembered a little of my garden’s history. I’m in the garden every day but I guess I usually don’t take the time to have a really good look. Bloom day changes that. Every plant has a story.

The Heavenly Angels Poppies are now in full bloom. Yesterday I called the friend who gave them to me to thank her for her spectacular gift of seeds. She didn’t answer. I'll try again. Maybe she’ll read this blog.

Roadside Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) came with the house. It spreads. I dug most of it out and left two clumps near fence posts.

This unnamed deep orange lily adds a pop of color to a sea of green. It was purchased as tuberose. It’s obviously not that.

Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’ daylily – common, everblooming, reliable. It was planted to hide the spent foliage of the daffodils. One plant is now three.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis), another gift from a friend, has been reseeding in this spot for many years. My grandmother grew them. I think of both of them when I see the yellow flowers.

Coreopsis, sold as ‘Moonbeam’, may or may not be ‘Moonbeam’ depending on who you ask. Every year it gets wider and wider. Since 1998, I’ve divided it with an axe, given it away, planted it around the garden and composted it.

Crane’s Bill Hardy Geranium ‘Splish Splash’. I’ll dead head with a hedge shears when it’s finished blooming to minimize reseeding. I have several clumps from the original plant. It doesn’t help to tell it “stay”.

Nicotiana ‘Fragrant Cloud’ has been making an appearance every year since originally planted in 2004. I’ve never gone out in the garden at night to check its scent.

Coral Bells Heuchera villosa 'Tiramisu' PPAF - the first Heuchera to bloom in my garden. It’s a new plant in its third year that I bought on a trip to a garden center with good friends.

Chrysanthemum 'Clara Curtis' - Garden Mum blooms all summer. I’ve shared many pieces of this early blooming mum.

Anthony Waterer spirea - an original shrub. I’ll trim it back when it’s finished blooming and it will re-bloom later in the summer – another reliable old friend and one of my husband’s favorites.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my garden as much as I did.

Many thanks to Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day every month. It makes me stop and actually look at what is blooming in my garden. Check out other garden blogger’s blooms at Carol’s blog. It should be an exciting month.

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June Garden Progress

The garden is starting to look good. I have finally spread about half of the mulch that we got at the end of April. A lot of snapdragons and other re-seeding annuals have been pulled or transplanted. The snaps that survived the winter are in full bloom.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera speciosa ‘Siskiyou’) , in all its glory, blooms and oversteps its bounds as usual.

All the pots are planted. I used mostly coleus and fuchsia cuttings from last year’s plants and canna tubers that didn’t fit in the garden.

All seeds are up. Lettuce in the fish box has been cut a couple of times.

Beans are growing.

The tomato is growing but doesn’t have any flowers. It’s a little behind the rest of the neighborhood. The tomato is called ‘Dan’s Favorite’. It thought it sounded interesting. It was labeled “mid-season slicing tomato”. I really don’t know what that means. I’ll have to wait for a taste test to see if ‘Dan’s Favorite’ is also mine.

The first Heavenly Angels Poppy opened. There are many walnut sized buds promising a colorful show.

So far it’s been a busy week. The forecast predicts rain today. I am looking forward to it. So is the garden.

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Heavenly Angel’s Poppy

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We’re on the road again so my posts may be a bit sporadic. I want to share the annual poppy in my garden.

The seeds were given to me by my friend, Vi, last year. She said, “put them in the ground in the winter.” I scratched them lightly into the soil last December. They are spectacular this summer and have been blooming for 2 or 3 weeks. I don’t know the variety but Heavenly Angel’s Poppy is a great name, isn’t it?

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Although the pictures look a little pink they are really a deep, soft orange. Burnt Orange Peony Poppy is closest I could find at One Stop Poppy Shoppe http://www.onestoppoppyshoppe.com/servlet/the-15/Peony-Poppies-Poppy-Seeds/Detail

I plan to collect seeds for next year’s garden and to share with friends. According to Vi, “As the seed pod is drying, cut it off and lay it on a plate to finish drying. Then the little holes around the top will open and you can shake out the seeds.” I should be able to do that.

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