Annual poppy seeds

Hello all. Apologies if this has been covered I couldn’t find it anywhere.
In the car park where I work is an annual poppy in the most exquisite shade of lavender. I would love to grow it in my garden so want to collect some seed.
When is the best time to collect seed? Also any tips on sowing etc? I feel maybe the autumn is the time to sprinkle them around to mimic nature but am happy to be advised otherwise.
Hope you can help. Thank you

 

Don't collect seed until the pod is ripe - it'll be dry and brown, and it'll rattle if you shake it. The "windows" where the seed comes out will be open or about to open. Best to put a bag over the pod and shake the seed into the bag. Don't forget to leave some so that there'll be poppies in the car park next year!

 

Sowing time - I think it's best to mimic nature and scatter the seed straight away when it's ripe, lots of it (not all will germinate/survive) ,but you can sow them in pots or modules if you like, or if you don't have a lot of seed. It was mentioned in another thread recently but I can't find it now.

 

I think @Punkdoc mentioned growing poppies in modules, I was trying to find it too as thought I would make a note to give it a go next year.

 

I did, and it does, not original though, Christo Lloyd used the same method at Dixter.

 

Yes it was on the Chelsea thread I wanted to grow poppies Lauren’s grape. I bought seeds for that and will try next year but wondered about harvesting from this particular wild poppy just growing at the edge of the car park.

 

I harvested some seeds leaving a few to self seed and have sprinkled some and kept others back for next year. Fingers crossed it works

 

A belt and braces approach is always best @Debs64 .
Lots of plants don't easily seed around successfully here, so I always do a few different methods if I can, just as @JennyJB mentions. It's always good to mimic their natural process, but it helps to do some back up.
I grew Lauren's Grape a few years ago [lovely plant] and some of those came back from self seeding under the bedroom window where it's drier, more sheltered, and the soil is poorer. I didn't get any this year though, apart from one - which has obviously managed to survive in the compost that I topped up a pot with, as I changed/emptied the border they were in. I've got Ipomoea in the pot, and now a nice L's G as well, although I'm hoping it gets time to flower [bud just now] and set seed for me to collect, before the weather becomes too wet and manky for it.
I've collected some seed from a little wild poppy growing along the edge of a pavement a mile or so away. I'm hoping to get something from that - some will be sown beside the path at the side of the extension, which has gravel and not much soil, and some will be done in pots or trays and left somewhere reasonably sheltered so that they don't get waterlogged.
We can compare notes