I can only answer for the Larkspur. It blooms late May into early June. Once you have it, you'll have it forever so you only need to sow seed once in situ, which can be done anytime in late Fall and even into early winter. I once attended a talk by Edith Edelman and Doug Ruhren, and they recommended early January as the perfect time to sow Larkspur seeds. In my garden, there seems to be an almost 100% germination rate, so you don't need to worry about mulching over the seeds like you do with annual poppy seeds. I let a few seed pods ripen and then yank the plants.

My Nigella started first. I have pictures of it in bloom on 5/17 but I think it may have started a tad earlier. It had reseeded and I don't remember exactly when i sowed it originally. First bloom on Larkspur that I think I sowed in Jan. was 5/20 and I'm still having some bloom.

I grow all 3 and find they overlap a good bit. A lot depends on the year and how warm it is . I've seen bread poppies and shirlies blooming as early as late april in a warm year, along with the others as well (shirlies open a bit before the bread for me). If it's a moderate, cool spring all 3 will bloom for much longer even if they start a bit later. They seem to do best if you allow them to reseed themselves or can scatter in a bed in fall or very early winter. I wouldn't mulch on top. I have scattered seed as late as feb and had bloom, but it does get established better and therefore bloom better if done earlier. Add in some cornflower for an earlier blue pop than the nigella.

This all sounds good to me. I get a lot of April bloom with lavender, dianthus and Dutch irises. May is lacking color before my summer perennials start up in June, so this sounds like a great way to transition the garden.

I've seen mixes of colors for larkspur seed and poppies. Should I go with a mix or get specific color combos? I've got an area between my front fence and some carissa hollies that is south-facing and perfect for annual seeds.

Thanks,
Cameron

If you go with blue shades of larkspur, a really good companion is Achillea 'Coronation Gold'. In my garden, the Achillea starts first, but is so long blooming, there's still alot of overlap.

I have 'Moonshine' at the meadow edges of my garden, just planted this year, so the plants are still small. I can gather some up for a grouping.

Cameron this was my island bed this past May - poppies and larkspur were volunteers - the rest (yellow lilies, snaps, columbine, deltoid pinks) were already planted there. I liked the combination of CA poppies and blue larkspur and going to repeat it in another bed that will be mostly daylilies

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view about 2 weeks later still May with more larkspur blooming and yellow lilies in full bloom and larkspur and CA Poppies in the cottage garden blooming along with various clematis

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Lynne

Lynne,

As usual, your garden is gorgeous! I love the blue and yellow combination! I'm glad you posted the photos as I was wondering how much I'd need for an impact in the spot that I've chosen.

It's good to see the California poppies will grow here as I've also seen photos of a pretty soft orange with blue larkspur.

I'm getting pretty excited about the seed sowing!

Thanks,
Cameron

Thank you Cameron - it means alot coming from you whose gardens I enjoy looking at so much. The island bed is pretty quiet right now but I will be having cosmos and cleome blooming mid August on - I had 3 nepeta plants in there which were beautiful in June but one has died and now the other two are showing signs of stress. I started them by WSing seed after seeing pictures of your nepeta. This is the same island bed but from the other side - taken in early June. The feathery green at the top of the picture is the larkspur you see in the other picture

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Lynne

Lynne, your island bed is really pretty with this view, too.

Even a couple of my nepeta are suffering a bit from all the rain. Two got caught up in the gully washer and have a few grey patches forming. I knew I was pressing my luck along the path at the bottom of the slope! I will probably cut those two back and plant them higher, taking out the damaged parts.

Thanks and take care!

I think the calif poppies bloom a bit earlier for me than the other types. They look amazing when planted with woodland phlox, too.

What color Calif poppies do you plant? How tall are they in our climate?

I really like the apricot flambe (red & yellow combined) but have had the best luck with the cheap packets of mixed colors or single orange that you find at the dollar store or walmart. I think it's because they, like other poppies, resent transplanting and the bigger cheap packets allow me to direct sow and not worry about wasting seed. They get to a foot, maybe 18" if they're really happy. Some of mine (maybe 1/2 each year)have been perennial- they need to be sited where you won't disturb them for that. They go dormant sometime in summer & resprout in fall when it cools off. I love their foliage. I spread some new seed each year- usually late fall or more likely, early to midwinter as i'm a procrastinator. I'd think when you set bulbs would be the best time to sprinkle seeds, i just am never that organized.

This all sounds great.

Another question...will rabbits eat any of these? I'm seeing an increase in the bunny population. They are eating the bases of my rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' and the tall blooms are still standing...so, it's not deer.

I don't know since we don't have rabbit issues (thankfully!).

We sowed our larkspur at the wrong time in mid-April. They started blooming in June and are still blooming. I don't know how it happened. I guess I'll have them forever now :)

The rabbits sampled the larkspur and then left it alone. I haven't noticed any munching on the others although they were probably too close to the house for their liking anyway.

I'm going to give all of these a try and see what happens with the bunnies. If a rabbit sampled larkspur, isn't it now a dead rabbit? It's on the NCSU poisonous plants list.

Thanks!

Okay, I got all carried away last night!

3 colors of larkspur
3 varieties of poppies

I just had to order purple, lavender and green zinnia seeds (impulse buy); green laceflower and purple and green nicotiana. More impulse buying!

I think there's a new addiction coming here...you're all such enablers! LOL

Thanks,
Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: blog

My first seed order from Diane's Seeds arrived today! I was thrilled with her packing and the free cosmos seeds!

I posted the photos of the seed packets in my blog so you can see.

Cameron

I sprinkled poppies around my butterfly gingers and they bloom before the gingers can get tall enough to bother them. Soon after the poppies are done blooming the gingers hide them while the seeds ripen.