Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Poppy Love

The Pink ruffled poppies below appear to be enfolded in an sweet embrace....it's love in the garden!



These are new in my garden this year, and have been such a delight! The seed was purchased from an Ebay seller and winter sown in mid-February, then transplanted to the garden.




The color is a lovely shade of pink. The green seed head is surrounded by light colored stamens and four lavender blotches in the center of each flower.




Though most were double with ruffles (hence their name) there were also some singles, such as the one above. It seems the ones I planted in poorer soil tended to be singles.





This one was grown in one of my vegetable beds with rich soil, and is very double... with so many ruffles that the seed-head and lavender center aren't even visible!




The bees are crazy about these poppies! The above photo has four bees busily gathering pollen on this blossom, but I counted up to 9 bees on one flower at the same time. (Click to enlarge.)




Each flower only lasts only a few days, but the seed heads which follow are beautiful as well, with their bluish gray color cast.


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In case you haven't noticed, Poppies are one of my all time favorite flowers! I like to try new varieties, but I think my first choice will always be the Shirley poppies because of the length of bloom time and the varied and wonderful shades of color produced from the pollination by bees. I hope to do a post on them soon!


14 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Those are so pretty! I have no poppies in my garden, and don't see any around here but the orange ones. Perhaps I should try some like these! They are quite tempting.

And you bought the seeds on eBay? How interesting, I hadn't thought to look there for seeds.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Colleen Vanderlinden said...

Those are absolutely gorgeous! I need some :-) I'll have to keep my eye out for seeds. I have several of the orange ones, but these are about a zillion times prettier. And the seed pods are just beautiful. It's very easy to see why poppies are some of your favorite plants!

O.I.M said...

you've snapped some awesome pictures. I especially love the embracing poppies and busy bees. It's a beautiful flower. I hope to add some to my growing garden some day.
Irena

Dirty Fingernails said...

I absolutely love poppies, but they don't like it down here in Georgia.. I just read your bio and realized you are in Idaho!! I grew up in Idaho Falls and moved to GA from Boise.. We desp. want to get back there..

The Weathered Pane said...

Hi, Connie! Have to say.... the gardener I am and I've never lived with poppies... Something about them that just don't appeal to me. But I do love the pretty ruffled one. Precious! That one I would try! Did you say you have the Blue Himalayan poppies? Nancy

Connie said...

Carol - No poppies? Oh, that is sorrowful indeed...just plant them once and you will have poppies. :-)

Colleen & Irena - I will have seed to trade in the fall on GardenWeb. Love their seed exchange forum!

Dirty Fingernails - I hope you make it back to Idaho, but aim for the North Central part of the state...it is ever so much nicer! Just my humble opinion, of course. :-)

Nancy - I have never had the Blue Himalayan poppy. It is said to be quite challenging to grow, but that just makes me want to try. :-)

Anonymous said...

I grow bread seed poppies. Not as pretty as yours, but like you said, once you have poppies, you always have poppies.

kris said...

I don't have poppies either - but I have seen some beauties on blogs this year. So, next year, poppies for sure! Your photos are gorgeous, as usual. I really love these colors - very fun! Do you have any problem with the doubles needing support?

Connie said...

Kris - They don't need support...they have very strong stems!

Kylee Baumle said...

Your poppy shots are gorgeous!! I especially love the one with all the bees. That is wonderful!

MrBrownThumb said...

Connie,

Let me know when you do a post on the shirley poppies. I had a number of different colors and the doubles were my favorite. I grew a single one like yours and loved how large the stem got.

Bev said...

That is the MOST beautiful poppy I have ever seen. I'm going to check out the winter sowing link.

joey said...

A joy to find your comment after being away from my garden for over 2 weeks. Your poppies are amazing! I adore them also ...

lisa said...

Gorgeous! I sooo need to plant some of these!