If you love gorgeous flowers, consider growing poppies in your home garden. Blooming early in the growing season, they definitely steal the show.
This gallery of poppies is the perfect antidote to winter blahs. See more of my idea galleries here: Idea Galleries.
Grow Poppies for Their Simple Beauty
NEW! Click play to listen:
Subscribe to our free podcast here: Two Minutes in the Garden.
This has nothing to do with all of the traditional things that come to mind when you think of poppies: honorable service, medicinal uses (both useful and harmful), and the delights of a perfect lemon poppy seed cake (oh, yes please!).
This is simply about the essential, gobsmackingly beautiful, soul-restoring service that the poppy plays in the spring garden. It’s a show stopper of the best kind: waiting until the noisy spring flowering bulbs have faded out and before the trademarks of a vibrant summer garden have begun, poppies demonstrate the power of one and how brilliant repetition can be in a garden.
Which is my way of saying, I am smitten.
Here are my ten reasons (which happened to coincide with my favorite photos) why I find poppies irresistible. The photos were taken during a garden tour in June. Spring came a little late last year because winter did not want to leave. Normally (here in southern Ontario, Canada) the poppies peak in May.
I grow my poppies from seed. You can save them from the seed pods after a poppy blooms or buy them:
- Smart Seed Saving Tip for Best Blooms
- Poppy seeds (Amazon.com)
ONE
After the spring flowering bulbs have faded, these bursts of colour start to appear.
TWO
Look at this next image. Who steals the show? The red poppies, of course. I could write love sonnets for the peonies and alliums, but there’s no disputing the brilliance of those flappy, red poppy blooms.
THREE
Bam! The orange poppies provide a nice backdrop but the red ones are the divas.
Sign up here for the Empress of Dirt newsletter
FOUR
How’s this for a whoosh of colours? When the poppies are open, you know summer is on its way.
Want organic seeds? See Seed Company Listings (Canada & U.S.)
FIVE
As the poppies begin to fade, their colours become bolder. They will not go out with a whimper but a bang instead.
SIX
Perfect clashing colours: the red poppies bridge the gap between purple peonies and orange poppies.
SEVEN
Orange poppies still tight in their buds are like little firecrackers ready to pop open.
EIGHT
Without any red poppies to interfere with their show, the orange is downright breathtaking.
NINE
You can’t have too many.
TEN
And the song lasts for weeks.
Swoon.
BONUS
Seed pods!
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
PS: Here’s 16+ Creative Garden Container Ideas
 |
 |
Linda hudak says
How do you keep poppies contained to just a certain area? Can they be grown in pots? Is zone 9 good to grow them? Can I pot them now?
Melissa J. Will says
Hi Linda, The zone depends on the type you have. I’ve not tried them in pots because they are so fussy about being moved. To prevent spreading, you need to remove the flowers before they go to seed. This has more info: https://www.westcoastseeds.com/blogs/how-to-grow/grow-poppies
Kathy Vause says
Do you have deer Melissa? I love the look of wild growing poppies, but I have deer and rabbits in zone 5A. Also, can you plant poppy seeds in Spring?
Barbara says
Do you plant them in the fall. Would now be a time to sow seeds. Tricks to sowing?
Melissa J. Will says
The trick to sowing happy poppies is to do as little as possible with them. They don’t like to be moved. I have had the best luck with sprinkling seeds onto damp soil exactly where I want them to grow. Fall is fine. Just remember where you put them so you do not step on that soil in the spring.
Patty Reinhold says
Hi,
Is there a way to transplant poppies. My experience is the slightest intrusion into the roots kills it! I had 3 or 4 plants of the orange variety. I have only one left.
Also, when and how do I collect seeds to start new ones?
Melissa J. Will says
Yes, they are fussy. I transplant them by completely soaking the soil, digging really wide, and then tucking a big piece of cloth under and around the entire root ball. I hold everything snug in the cloth and carry it to the new location (already prepared). I also bring more soil from old location to minimize shock (so they don’t think much has changed). Also, pay attention to how the poppy was facing the sun and position it the same way in the new location.
When all the flower petals have fallen, those beautiful seed pod heads are visible. When they are brown and dry, the seeds are ready. Try saving some to start under lights indoors and sow the rest directly in the soil in the fall. Mark the spot and see what you get in spring.
Jayne Cambra says
After reading your version of ’10 Irresistible Reasons to Grow Poppies’; I felt like I had just gone through the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was beautiful !! Poppies in Chorus. Your version was lovely and inspiring. I was never a fan of poppies, but I think I am now. hehe
Melissa J. Will says
Mission accomplished! It’s hard not to get a little poetic when they are so beautiful and welcome at that time of year. Thanks, Jayne!
Linda Reinking says
My grandmother grew them in her back yard in Detroit . What a wonderful memory. Her poppy seed
sweet rolls were delish . She had fruit trees and a large vegetable garden too. Michigan beets yum
Melissa J. Will says
You’re making me hungry! Lovely memories.
Donna says
I love poppies but don’t get them to grow . Zone7 in north Texas. Any ideas for me?
Melissa J. Will says
They do like some chill. Best to focus on what’s suited to your zone, perhaps.
sylvia says
I love photographing poppies; now I’m wondering if I should grow my own subjects!
Melissa J. Will says
If you’re in a good poppy zone, for sure!