Miniature Poppies

Waaaaay back in January, I wrote about sowing poppies in the snow. Basically, you go out in the winter and scatter poppy seeds wherever you want them to grow, and that's what I did.

I scattered about 500 of seeds, and then... I waited. And waited.

From April and on, I've been looking close at every little green leaf that emerged from the dirt. Not being sure what I could pull as a weed, I let most things green remain until I was sure that it either was, or wasn't a weed.

Then, in late June, I noticed the teeniest little green stems, slightly fuzzy, with microscopical buds on them. MY POPPIES!


But what had happened? Why were they so small?

Well, one thing I'm guessing is that I scattered the seeds a tad late and they didn't get enough time. In March, as the last of the snow was melting, I realized that I better hurry. I ran out and scattered them on the melting droves of snow. So, more like spring sowing than winter sowing.

Out of five distinct areas that I targeted, the seeds only sprouted in one of them. That one spot is a full sun spot and isn't occupied by other plants.

I have to say, snow covered ground makes it a bit hard to know and remember exactly what's underneath and where to scatter the seeds.

I used a few envelopes of mixed seed varieties. California Poppies did NOT work as one of my facebook friends had told me, but I had to try.

Here is a size comparison. To the far right is a normal size seed pod from my Oriental Poppies. And, to the left of it, in the middle, is the seed pot from the biggest snow poppy (showed on top right), this one was about 1.5" across when blooming.

To the far left, the average size of my snow poppies.

Size: annoyingly small! Its blooming size is smaller than an American quarter.

Now that I know where they take seed, I think I'll try it again this coming winter. It is by far the easiest and quickest way to sow seeds.

Well, folks, that's all.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as I am. I wish I could slow it down, though. June just flew by, have no idea where it went. I'm feeling slightly stressed about that to be honest. The fear of a runaway summer entered my dreams the other night. I dreamed that I saw frost on my plants and someone told me that the fall was here. GASP!!!

So, take advantage of these beautiful summer days. Stop and smell the roses, eat some ice cream and make some trips to the ocean and dip your toes in the water before it's all too late.

Annelie