![]() ![]() Find lots of wildflower inspiration for summer planting at our wildflowers hub page, along with plenty of growing tips. Poppies make up an important part of wildflower mixes, and are a particularly attractive pollinator plant to bring bees and butterflies to your garden - a great way to attract wildlife and get the kids interested in nature. Take care, as early separation can damage sensitive taproots. Divide clumps of poppies in late summer when they’ve finished blooming.For biennials and perennials, cut back old foliage to ground level in autumn.Once annual poppies have gone to seed, pull up parent plants and compost.To harvest seed pods, cut when the pods turn light brown and dry out for 1-2 weeks before breaking open and storing seeds in a jar for up to two years.If left to seed poppies self-sow, so avoid unwanted spread by removing faded flowers in good time.Deadhead faded poppy flowers often to encourage more blooms.Water poppies during dry spells, but don’t oversaturate.Poppies are a great way to fill unused space and are easy to care for. Also, you must not consume any other part of a poppy plant – they’re poisonous. Be careful, as the seeds of many other poppy species are not edible. The seeds can be eaten and are used for adding extra flavour, crunch and bite to breads and cakes. If you’re growing poppies for culinary use, the opium poppy is a good choice. Avoid a hole in the garden by placing Oriental Poppies. Oriental poppies have larger, blousy flowers, while Icelandic and Japanese poppies come in unique shades like mauve and gold. The bristly leaves turn brown in early summer and disappear entirely, reappearing in early fall. If you want a longer-term plant, biennial and perennial poppies make a vivid addition to your garden or border. It’s an annual, bee-friendly variety that’s ideal in a wildflower garden. The Flanders or field poppy (papaver rhoeas) is the simplest to grow, and is best known as a symbol of remembrance for soldiers who gave their lives in the first World War. They come in a wide choice of colours - sow a mixture of poppy seeds for a naturalised wildflower garden look, or make a dramatic statement by sowing a single colour en masse. You can choose from approximately 120 different varieties of poppy including annual, biennial and perennial flowers. There's more to poppies than the iconic red flowers, as illustrated with poppy 'Album'. ![]()
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