Suitability: Suitable for ‘Summer dry’ soils. Will grow on poor fertility soil, but to lower height
Life Cycle: Hardy annual, germinates, flowers and seeds all in one growing season, then sets seed and dies, being an annual
Growth Height: 40 to 80 cm, depends on competition, soil fertility sowing time and weather
Nature Services: Pollinator plant, deep rooted, provides seed, and seed head habitat. Acts as Annual Nurse Crop
Wintergreen: No, poppies die off, the dead stems make great standing winter cover, and as bugs live in the poppy seed heads, when the seeds are shed, the birds can eat the bugs
Preparation: Create a firm, fine tilth on the seedbed surface. scatter and press down, no need to cover. Can be covered with 1 mm fine grit, Poppy likes a light soil
Timing: Sow Autumn or Spring. best not sown July or August as plants try to flower in current year.
Sowing Rate: 0.5 grams per square meter | Seeds per Gram: >3000
Method: Cast by hand or mini seed spreader.
Aftercare: Post-sowing, Roll if dry or rake the surface, just once. If open grown outside, no watering required, if in trays, flats pots, raised beds or window boxes, water weekly.
General Advice: If transplanting, do so very early at two or four leaf stage, they hate being disturbed as large plants, always water well before transplanting.
Please be patient, will germinate after vernalisation (winter cold treatment)
Will bloom if sown before June. The flower for up to 8 weeks and then set seed and die off, not to re-grow in grass or meadows, as they cannot compete.
Pollinator Friendly: Yes / No Easy to grow: Yes / No
Self Seedling: Yes / No Spreads by roots: Yes / No
Best Planting Type: Seeds, then very young plants, Perfect in Cornfield annual mixtures, ideal as a nurse crop for meadow establishment.
Suggested planting: Sow around large flowered red flowering shrubs and herbaceous species, ideal with red foliage species.
Ideal for gravel driveways and shallow light soils that are kept weed free, as the poppy can be cleared away in autumn, and the seeds will re-appear next spring
Another Perfect Irish Native Plant for Ireland’s Pollinators.
Biodiversity: This plant when in it’s native ecology attracts and supports Biodiversity as a range of species will visit it.
This plant species is an important part of the food chain
Garden Biodiversity: This Species in Gardens is both colourful and attracts bees.
Rampancy: Yes Toxicity: Yes
Edibility: Seeds Yes Herb: No See Plants for a Future Database for all other uses.
Native Sourced Irish Origin Wildflower, farm grown from wild stock species that we saved and distributed across Ireland since 1987, Design By Nature: Handing on our Heritage
Conservation:
Common or Corn Poppy from wild sources has been collected by us mainly in Leinster and Munster. These local genotypes were then bred up and ‘grown on’ into one large crop which we mostly grow in Ballon Co Carlow.
Depending on the weather, we sow the crop in November of early March.
Conservation and Threat Level: Poppy like all cornfield annuals is endangered, we would say it natural habitat is nearly extinct as ‘who these days has a real wild cornfield full of poppy?’ There is only a few grain growing farms we know that have many cornfield weeds.
Living Gene-Bank: As crop and stored seed, also as soil stored seed in old crops
An Imithe species: No, although finding real native sources is getting much harder as Poppy is also imported
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