Papaver Orientale (Poppy)

I am looking for early season colour, so I bought a Papaver Orientale 'Manhattan' a couple of days ago. I have never grown Papaver before, but Christopher Lloyd says that once flowered they do not need to make any more growth so can be cut down immediately. I am hoping this will allow it to be grown between later flowering perennials.

I would be grateful for any comments or experience with perennial Papaver. When do they flower, and for how long? Does anyone cut them down straight after flowering? Can they be lifted after flowering to be replaced by a later flowering plant? And how long do they live? How fast do they expand? Any other really nice varieties? Also any comments welcome on annual poppies. But if these are to self seed they must be left after flowering, which defeats my objective or does it?

 

Papavers,from memory<I am not growing perennial poppies at the moment>I had to stake the flower stems with split canes for support and propegated by spliting the roots.This has been acold spring but normaly they do flower in mid june.As far as moving before the Autumn sorry I cant help.Hope this helps alittle,Allthe best.

 

Well it depends upon when you plant them (out or in) what wetather is like....and so on and so forth.

I have done icelandic papaver in the past and just chucked a few in this year.

Nothing much so far, bur will compare notes - oh and they do not transplant very well.

 

Thanks to both of you. When all else fail - read the instructions. My book agrees with you both, they do need support and do not transplant well. Any other experiences welcome.

So what flowers early and can be transplanted ?

 

How early are you looking for?

You can get some stunning tulips - either put them in baskets (plant in autumn, lift the basket after flowering) or keep them in pots and move the pots as and when. Other spring bulbs could work on the same principle.

Just watching Gardner's World, and they have thing on oriental poppies - recommending "super poppies" that have a longer lasting flower, straight upright stems and a second flush. Seemed co-incindental

 

If you don't want to put cane supports in let them grow up through a small bush or let them naturalise and fight it out with other undegrowth. Not oriental papaver but this is a wooland area semi wild margin with some yellow Welsh poppy. (Meconopsis cambrica)

 

Be a little careful with Oriental Papaver - some varieties can be a bit invasive and difficult to get rid of. I grow a couple + plus trying to irradicate one, that proved to have delusions of grandeur. - Once the flowering is over, I tend to cut back some of the leaves, the rest I leave to die back - it tends to grow a new green centre, following dying or cutting back. So can't see any reason not to cut back after flowering.

Most need staking- or as Frogescue says grow among other supporting plants - but you could find it a bit difficult to control if its an invasive type.

 

:D @ Fran Difficult to eradicate isn't the word! Papaver orientalis have very persistent seeds that can lie dormant for over a 100 years. Just disturb the soil where they've been grown and up they'll pop. Be very rigourous about deadheading.

Meconopis cambrica is also a prolific devil and has a tap root to rival the best Dandilions.

 

They annoy me though the flowers are beautiful. If placed at the back of the border they are too low in flower, if at the front they leave a huge hole in the border after cutting back. Humph. Never had a problem with invasiveness or self seeding though - but I always cut them back as the foliage goes nasty if you leave them. I believe they don't transplant happily as the roots go too deep to dig out.

Papaver somniferum is a persistent self seeder as well, albeit pretty and easy to weed out. Sometimes it is fun to leave the silver leaves in the border among where slow starters emerge - like bidens and eupatoriums.

 

Tangle, Yes I saw the super poppies, I could not make out whether this was some advertising or a new breed. Have just googled it on
http://www.plantaholic.co.uk/super.htm

I will be trying some spring bulbs as well next year. What is a basket Tangle, is it a special pot for sinking in the border. And could you use that with a poppy or anything else. Do the roots grow through, and how would that effect a poppy when lifted.

Thanks also Fran, Frogesque (nice piccie) and Jazid. My knowledge of poppies has already quadrupled!

 

That's just down the road from me :D . Must plan a trip down there....

Sorry for not being clear. I was thinking of an acquatic plant basket like this:


They work well for things that don't have huge roots like bulbs. Thick and/or deep roots can be a problem (they break the basket). I'm not sure they'd be so good for poppies and the like - things that really start to flourish once they've got their roots down deep. If you're dead set on poppies and don't have the space for them to stay put you might be better off looking at the annual varieties rather than struggling with and unhappy orientale...

 

The P Orientalis is a must in the large borders but not an easy plant in my experience - difficult to support effectively and a bit of a problem because of the size and number of its leaves. All of this I live with since the flowers are so wonderful - have not tried to cut right back but generally take away those leaves which shade other plants,
I also have one next to a v. large Acanthus wich is something of a bully and even more difficult to get rid of..........

 

I grow them among roses in an island bed. They hide the legs of the roses and the roses support the poppies.

 

Almost as soon as I made my last post I remembered the baskets I had seen for aquatics. I was at a garden centre on Sunday - so I bought 4. As you say Tangle they are not that big, but I will experiment.