1914-2014

Hi everyone

100 years ago next year is the anniversary of the first world war and every year we commerurate the loss of personnel from the armed forces with poppy day..... Well how about this for an idea.? Sow poppy seed this year in the hedgerows and verges with the permission of the landowners and next year the country will be covered in poppies .... And why not grow a poppy in your garden ............................A truly fitting tribute..... ... It's an idea that's been bounding around for about 18 months now and I was timely reminded of the idea earlier today on a radio station.

It would be great to hear your comments
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/useralbums/poppy-jpg.2136/view-image

 

I think it is a great idea.

 

I'm sure powers that be could get everyone involved who has a garden

 

A nice idea as long as its native Poppy seed, but

A. I don't know what Natural England would have to say about it.

B. Poppies are avalanche plants, the seeds germinate on disturbed soil as initial colonisers and probably wont germinate if put into an existing hedgerow, too much competition.

 

I will try and gather some from the edge of a cornfield nearby and sprinkle seeds in our " wild garden" triangle,
Jenny

 

I kind of like the idea, but I have a few thoughts on this.

Firstly, I know the historical reason behind poppy as the choice of flower for remembrance. Poppies thrive in disturbed ground, such as the ground absolutely smashed to bits in one of the bloodiest battles in history. I was taught that the poppies turned the fields red, symbolising the blood of those that lost their lives, but also that the scene of utter horror became a beautiful expanse of flowers, symbolising recovery and hope.

But if we were to some guerrilla gardening in the countryside, should it just be poppies? There are lots of flowers that we're losing, and if this is being done in the name of remembrance, it would be a shame to forget that right now, in the present day, we're losing wildflower diversity in our countryside.

I'm up for it.

 

Garden would be great, we could provide the right conditions there

The reason it became the symbol of The Great War is because the trenches provided ideal growing conditions.

I'm typing this, in a Great War Army hut. We found poetry written at top bunk level by a soldier who probably never came back from the trenches.

Oh, and there's a Ghost in here too.

 

Wow

 

I think it`s a brilliant idea to commemorate the centenary with flowers, we can all do something in our local areas, not essentially poppies, just cover as much of the countryside and verges, as we can with flowers, it needs planning now by individuals, we can collect loads of seeds through the summer to make bombs to throw in season.

 

As long as they are native wildflowers

 

I like the idea I'd like to say that one can only imagine the things that those folks went through, but we can't! It must have been like slaughter...such tragedy and misery. Definitely worth marking the occasion in some way. Poppies seem the obvious choice, but not practical it seems? Maybe WE can come up with something?

 

Hedgerows garden borders pots containers dosnt matter where they grow as long as they do ..... Well that's my opinion
I agree that other flowers could be used .... But is there anything as apt as a poppy...........
Would love this idea to go on and on and on ... Have put a mention on book face.

 

I wonder if we can use a bit of GC influence and magic to blag a load of seeds from somewhere.