Hi Sticks22,

Although it is not illegal to possess the seeds of opium poppies, it is illegal to grow or possess any other part of the opium poppy plants.

So, I don't know if anyone here will have seeds to share, since growing opium poppies is a potential legal issue.

There are many nice poppies that are not opium poppies.

Dawn

If you are just interested in poppies, Dawn is right, there are a lot of poppies. Looking at your member page, I'm wondering if it is the flower you are interested in.

Please excuse my skepticism, the boards get people on here occasionally who have less than pure gardening intentions.

If you are truly serious about growing poppies, in a few weeks there will be some poppy seeds that will show up on the Seed Exchange. It's probably too late to start poppies from seeds now. They are a cool spring plant. Once it gets hot they are gone. Some people have good luck growing them by direct seeding in the fall/winter. I, however, have lousy luck doing that, so I use the Winter Sow technique.

Lisa

Lisa,

Well said. You go, girl!

Dawn

I hate to sound negative too but I agree with Dawn and Lisa. There are many pretty poppies that are legal to grow.

BTW, did I mention that I am in law enforcement? I suppose not. But it is true. I am a prosecutor and organic gardener. ;-)

I am not tooting my own horn, just stating a fact. Organic gardeners and other gardeners alike have many professions. You should understand this before a post.

Julie

Speaking of poppy seeds - my mom once through away a whole bottle of poppy seeds to use in baking because she thought they were illegal! Guess she didn't think about all those other bottles on the grocery store baking isle!

To add my voice to the chorus, Sticks22, not many people would be gullible enough to believe that you only want to "grow a few around the house" because they "look cool"! Despite being gardeners, we didn't just fall off a turnip truck! Carolyn

sticks, I see you just joined garden Web the day you asked for poppy seeds and also posted on seed exchange for poppy seeds. Ask again next fall when you can plant them. And stay active on here and maybe we'll give yoU some info.

It is not illegal to grow Papaver somniferum and you can buy seeds from reliable seed companys but you mess with the GREEN seed cups and you can be hung, and hope you are. That is the only part of the plant that produces opium.

There are more than a few people who grow these poppies for their colorful beauty.
vickie

In case you are still around :) Here's some photos of some legal poppies, fresh from my garden!

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Lisa

Wow Lisa those are GORGEOUS!!!! I have never grown poppies but after seeing those I may have to plant some this fall. Is that correct? you need to plant the seeds in fall?
Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures!
G.M.

Are the red ones the breadseed poppies, Lisa? Sure are gorgeous! I've never been successful with poppies, but my neighbor across the street grows them. He planted them the first time, and has never had to plant them again because they reseed.

I would love to have 'Patty's Plum'. Oooh, that one is to die for.

Julie, do you work for the Oklahoma County DA? I was a paralegal at a downtown lawfirm for 10 years, and before that was a federal paralegal for 10 years, and then before that was a paralegal for a lawyer in Norman.

I just got burned out after so long at it. And, we paralegals get the brunt of the work and very little appreciation for it. That wasn't true with the gov't, because the feds treat everyone equally, but the private sector is H*LL! I worked in tax, corporate, and probate, though, so didn't really deal with the criminal or other prosecutorial areas of law.

I'm surprised you have time for gardening, though! For some odd reason, I don't think we're going to hear from the original poster here.

Susan

Hi Susan,

Actually, I saw your post about Rambo. I was going to type something then but was still lurking at the time. I love David!!! He was a mentor of mine and helped me out after law school. My first office was in the building on Main street with David.

BTW, I can imagine getting burned out with David. He was close to retirement by the time I became a lawyer and the only paralegal that could handle him was an OCD woman who I still adore. She is a saint.

I started in the Cleveland County D.A.'s office as an intern prosecuting Domestic Abuse. That job was mentally difficult to say the least.

I work for the Attorney General now so I am statewide. I prosecute white collar crime, fraud, elderly financial crimes, internet fraud, antitrust violations....that kind of stuff. I am sort of the geek of the office. ;-)

Time? LOL I HAVE to garden. It is my sanctuary and my peace. I find that my garden relaxes me the minute I step outside. I would go crazy (and almost did) without it. I love to just sit in the middle of it and watch the insects, critters and plants live. It is amazing to experience and is my way of meditating on life.

Sorry about getting sappy but I am still trying to figure out how I stayed sane during a long hiatus from gardening. Anyway, I am back at it and I feel better than I have felt in a long time. So, to put a long story short. I make time for gardening.

OrganicJulie, are you the hosta person or the one who left me with your juvenile cases?? lol

By the tone I would guess that you are the juvie person. I miss seeing you and glad to see you are a rabid gardener.

Imp

GM: Poppies are supposed to be very easy to direct sow, and the common wisdom is fall. I never had a whole lot of luck with direct seeding them, but once I discovered Winter Sowing I finally was successful. But they need to be started REALLY early. In fact, I've had them sprout in the fall and live over through the winter.

The red and pink ones (without the blotches) are shirley poppies, also known as corn poppies I think. The pink with blotches is what's known as breadseed poppies. It's the same type poppy as peony poppies.

The breadseed poppies do not reliably reseed for me, but the shirlies reseed fairly well.

Lisa

Lisa
What other flowers and plants do you grow with the poppies? I can envision a type of cottage garden look with lots of other perinials and such growing with them. I have never grown poppies but they are gorgeous from your photos.
I would love to have my entire back yard done in cottage gardens but with our horrid soil and other factors we have to go with raised beds as much as possible.
What are the red or pink crinkly paper looking poppies in your photos? They are lovely. But they all are. I like the one with the purple center as well.
Perhaps I will try and make another bed in which to plant poppies along with some other perinnials. More beds to care for.....just what I need...lol. There is no stopping place is there?

Thanks for your info. I could gain yet another interest with these poppies.
G.M.

GM: I'm going to attach a link to my photobucket site, you can see more of my beds there. The main page is more individual shots, while the "yard shots" section has wider views.

Poppies don't last long here, they are an early spring thing, but I grow these around the base of my hardy hibiscus which is just now starting to get tall, so it's a good double use of space.

This is a shot from last year. All the purple you see at the end of the peninsula is larkspur and the poppies are mixed in. This year it's more predominately poppies with a little larkspur!

And then a month later. The poppies and larkspur are gone and see how the hibiscus takes over?

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And for comparison, same shot this year:

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The crinkly poppies are shirley poppies. I wish I had digital pics of the year I had peony poppies everywhere. I was in heaven!

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Lisa's Garden

Julie:

I read above that you work for the AG. I just wanted to say that as a reporter, I really appreciate the work that Mr. Edmondson has done to educate city, county and local officials about Oklahoma's sunshine laws.

When I worked as a reporter in a smaller town, his office was instrumental to the work I did there when the locals refused to comply with Open Records Laws.

Drew Edmondson is my second-favorite elected official (after the governor), and I appreciate his staff as well.

Lisa,

The poppies look great.

I grow the corn poppies and Shirley poppies in the ditch alongside my driveway and the road. They have been there for 8 years and reseed themselves.

I also have a few in the cottage border that runs along the east side of my veggie garden, and a few (which planted themselves) on the dirt that surrounds the tornado shelter.
In the cottage border they are growing with larkspur, chamomile and verbena bonariensis. By the time the poppies are done, the Texas Hummingbird Mints will be coming into bloom.

The peony poppies are my favorites. I had a really good stand of them 4 or 5 years ago, but they reseeded less and less each year, and this year I don't have any. I guess I will sow some more seed this fall/winter. Iceland Poppies haven't done well for me at all, but some years I plant California Poppies and they do great although they usually get buried underneath some taller and more vigorous plants.

I just came in from deadheading the poppies a few minutes ago. While I was outside I became a skeeter pincushion, so need to spray on some bugspray before I go back out after lunch.

Thanks for sharing your pics! You have a lovely yard.

Dawn

Lisa,
Your poppies are so gorgeous. You have inspired me to plant some. Would it be best to direct sow this fall, or wait and sow them in my Winter Sown containers? The only poppies I've grown are the Iceland Poppies that I've bought as annuals.
Thanks so much for sharing your photos.
Dawna

Dawna, I would direct sow some any time between now and fall. I figure the plants drop their seeds now, we can too! But I would do some back up plant with Winter Sowing, and do them early. Poppies are always the first thing I sow.

The seed exchange will usually have a large number of seeds available. I'll try to post a note when my seeds are ready.

I'm just thrilled to get an opportunity to post the pictures, this thread seemed the perfect place to "show off" a little :)

Lisa

Lisa,

With a yard like that, you should show it off!

Feel free to post any time, and we all will drool.

Dawn

Julie, I had a friend who worked there, don't know if she's still there. Her name is Sheila. Also, I just adore the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Mike Richey. I used to work with him at FDIC.

When at Phillips McFall I worked with Bill Price, who did a lot of white collar defense both at the state and federal level - mostly federal. You may know him, too.

David is a hoot, huh? Actually I didn't get burned out by David. He was my mentor, too. I worked for him for 7 years when I lived in Norman. I need to call him and see how he is doing, and his bro, Dan. I also worked with Don Pape ("of counsel" at PM4). If so, you probably know Sandy, too, at Don's office. You may also know Judge Opala, who was a dear friend of T. Ray Phillips at our firm up until T. Ray passed away. We were all devastated by that, and I think that is what had such an impact on the diminution of our Tax Department.

Oh, gosh, it is a small world, isn't it? Everything I learned about "finding" stuff, I learned from David because he never made it easy for me! LOL! But, he had the biggest heart. We won't discuss Laura.

Sorry to get OT, everyone! I would love to grow poppies, but they just don't do well for me, and I don't really know why. I had some red ones last year, and hoped they would reseed, but nothing came up this year.

Lisa, your garden is just gorgeous! Do you live in OKC? It looks familiar somehow. You must attract lots of butterflies with all your beautiful flowers! I love the hellebores and have the orientalis and foetidus. A girl in Missouri sent me starts of the H. foetidus, and they are growing like mad. If you want a start of them next year, I'll be happy to share. You grow some beautifully, diverse plants!

Susan

Susan: I've posted those pics before...so you are probably getting a sense of deja vu! And we've talked butterflies...remember my million butterflies last fall that needed id'ing? :)

I have a new poppy pic this morning. It was so cute, I ran to get my camera:

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I don't know why I love poppies so much, probably because they are so vibrant. I uploaded a bunch more pics this morning.

Lisa

Lisa that is one adorable bloom you captured so beautifully. The more of your photos I see the more I feel interested in making a place for poppies around here. They look like "happy flowers"....my name for any flower which brings a smile or a spark of happiness within when I see it.
Keep those photos coming. I know everyone must enjoy them! I certainly do.
G.M.

Lisa - that is so cute! The flower looks like it has ear muffs on.

Now I remember - you had lots of butterflies!

Susan

I seeded some poppies a while ago and they are coming up nicely.Can anyone please let me know spacing between mature plants? They need to be thinned asap and I lost the package with instructions? So please do let me know.I don't know the kind I have , but I know they are not opium ( bought them at the garden store) Please do help me by letting me know how to space them.Hope to do it asap..Thanks so much.

In flower beds I usually thin them to 12" to 18" apart. I will thin them a little farther apart if they are interplanted with other plants like larkspur that bloom at the same time so nothing gets crowded out.

In the pasture or meadow I thin them out to 10" to 12" apart so there is not a lot of empty space between plants where the native grasses can get growing too vigorously and overwhelm the poppies.

many , many thanks had no idea that they need that much space..Going to work on it now..

Scarleta,

In our climate they do get that big, but I don't know if they will grow as large (or maybe larger?) in your climate.

Some people don't thin them very much at all. I have noticed, though, that plants which aren't thinned remain tall and lanky due to overcrowding and do not flower for as long of a period of time. Well-spaced poppies form beautiful, wide plants which bear many, many blooms.

Each bloom only lasts a day. If you deadhead them frequently, they will set flowers for a longer period of time. You can tell when they are coming to the end of their bloom time as they produce fewer and smaller flowers because their energy is all used up. At that point, if you want them to reseed, just stop deadheading them. You can let them reseed themselves or you collect the seed from the pods.

Happy Growing!

Dawn

Thanks for that Dawn: you know I did accidently post it on wrong forum.Was going to put it in PNW (Pacific North West) We don't have as much heat and not lasting too long.Anyways thanks a lot for the info very helpful.I am actually going to use the seeds in baking so I need them to seed. I have never grown them but use them in baking and like to eat them, so perhaps I can just de bud them so I have fewer flowers and let them go to seed.What do you think of this? Thanks

OT-lots of law types in the forum. Kinda strange as I haven't seen this interconnectedness in any of other forums.

I, too, have had a relationship with David professionally and personally as he is the one who picked up my 3 day old daughter from the hospital and delivered this bundle of joy to my house. She will be 16 soon. (I drove him crazy during that period-Kari held my hand).

And Sandy is one of my close friends. I officed across the hall from them on Crawford and Main. Very nice office filled with architects now.

Susan-what lifetime did you work with David? Did you know Marianne? A secretary I knew back when couldn't figure out why she was dreaming about Rainbow Paper Straws. Then eureka! one morning she was opeing mail and looked down at some correspondence noticing their letterhead-Rambo, Pape and Traw. lol I have always enjoyed that story.

Calling Julie-would you please check in and clear up some stuff for us so we can get back to the illegal poppies? ;) If you respond I might bring you some pieces of some fine plants............(bribery sometimes works).

On Topic: Has anyone found wintersowing beneficial to growing poppies well? I have heard good stories, but they are up north and who knows if it translates. Also I have heard they don't transplant well.

Anyone?

(hope this message is ok-I am generally a lurker and I just got verbose.)

Impatience,

I have transplanted poppies from one location in the ground to another when the plants are a couple of inches tall and the weather is still cool, and they have been fine.

The first time I sowed seeds I broadcast them on the ground in January. The second time I did it I broadcast them on the ground in late February. Both years I got a good stand. Since then they have reseeded themselves with wild abandon. They aren't invasive in my landscape, but the seeds are tiny and sometimes a lot of tiny seedlings come up in a clump, which is why I sometimes transplant some.

I've never wintersowed them but I think it would work. The seeds are tiny, tiny, tiny, though, and need to be sowed on the surface as they need light to germinate.

Dawn

I wintersowed them year before last and they did fine. Did the same with larkspur, which is also supposed to resent transplanting. I think if you do it when they are seedlings, they will be fine.

I have some breadseed poppy seeds. Has anyone grown these? I will have to wait until next year to sow them now cause it's too late here.

Impatience - tell Sandy that Suze from Phillips McFall said "hey". One of the female attorneys I worked for at Phillips used to do some work for Pape. Her name is Jennifer Golden. Haven't seen David in awhile, but he used to come up with Sandy on occasion to have lunch with me.

OT: Oh, geez, I worked for Rambo, Pape & Traw, along with Brenda Cortassa who used to work for Don, and is now at the adjunct Norman office of that HUMOUNGOUS firm in OKC. When I first started for David in 1976, I kept hoping I would NOT get the job. I didn't like him at all in my first interview. In the mid-70s, no one had heard of a resume. He made me sit at the typewriter (the old IBM correcting Selectric?) and type my resume for him. Ooh, that made me mad. When I started for him, it was Rambo, Boswell, and ? Long time ago. Then we moved in with Don and John. After I left the firm, David had, oh, I don't know, probably 10 secretaries, cause he is so demanding and unorganized. But, I love him dearly. I think he has recovered from his cancer now.

David had some very strange clients, and being so close to Central State Hospital, we had lots of walk-ins who were, how shall I say it nicely, a little eclectic? One guy came in and wanted to use our telephone. I asked him if it was a local call, and he said, "no", he wanted to obtain the number for a direct line to the stars (as in the moon, sun, and....). Yikes!

I'm so glad you got your baby you wanted so badly! David is great in that way.

Susan

Impatience,

LOL Yes you did inherit a lot of my juvie cases. I really miss that part of private practice. I never get to Cleveland County any more and I miss all of you tremendously. I loved the juvie docket and everyone who worked it. It was so rewarding.

Anyway, I cannot believe your daughter is driving????? My gosh, where has time gone? BTW, I will send you an email tomorrow. I want my hosta. ;-)

Okay, I am done with the off topic part of this thread. I promise. :-D

For what it is worth, I don't mind it when the conversation goes 'off topic', although I understand some people might not like it.

When we go off topic, we reveal a little more about ourselves and get to know each other a little more, and I like that.

I found some pretty poppies at walmart turned out to Iceland poppies. Has anyone tried these as transplants? They're on the south side so prolly won't make it long into the heat.

The smaller they are, the easier it will be to transplant them. Just use a trowel and take a substantial amount of soil to that the roots aren't disturbed too terribly much. I've transplanted Iceland poppies as late as May and had them survive.

Dawn

Actually, it's perfectly legal to grow Papaver Somniferum (Opium Poppies) in the USA just as long as you're not growing them for Opium production. On the photos that "lisa_h" posted above, the 3rd one down, and the very last photo are actually Papaver Somniferum poppies (Opium Poppies). I have even bought Papaver Somniferum plant starts at my local nursery here in Washington State. And I've been growing them for years. In fact, I sell many of their seeds online (ebay and my own website) :

http://stores.ebay.com/exjordanary-Seeds-and-Herbs

and

www.exjordanary-seeds-and-herbs.com

Here is a link that might be useful: .exjordanary-seeds-and-herbs

I was told that too, a couple years ago, that it was legal to grow any kind of poppy as long as you didn't do anything with the seed pods that could be construed as trying to make drugs. But my source wasn't law enforcement. The poppy seeds I tried (in Minnesota) didn't do anything, but I wasn't winter sowing them or fall sowing them. I just put them out in the late spring and nothing happened for a while, so I tried to grow cilantro in the same spot. Of course they took two weeks to germinate as well, so I got to thinking the spot was cursed.

I should plant some poppies next fall/winter in my front flower beds. Assuming I remember.

I had heard the same thing. I grow the breadseed poppy. Got the seed from Swallowtail Gardens, I think. But I imagine you could just as easily get the seed by buying a bottle of poppy seed in the grocery store spice aisle. Someone told me that the breadseed poppy is the same as the opium poppy but if it's not I don't care because I don't plan to make any opium.....

Your poppie is beautiful!! I have tried for

several years to grow any kind of poppies, Last

fall I planted 3 pkg of the seeds in a very

large pot and left them out all winter, nothing

has sprouted Yet. I now have a clear plastic over

the pot, thinking I will get something to sprout. :)

Caroline

Lisa, I love your garden. that is what i am trying for. i like how you have a border and that the grass is trimmed. i guess you just use an edeger on the grass. is that bermuca grass? it just doesn't seem to invade?

i am now thinking, as i have been, of taking my rock border out. the hose gets caught on it and because the rocks are just chipped rocks they don't look fancy enough for me.

by the way, i just googled for opium poppy seeds for sale and found them, which shocked me. actually i was just googling opium poppies to see if they were what we had in a vacunt field when i was growing up since we had various kinds of poppies and bachelor buttons that i just loved. i don't know if any were opium or not. but i will always remember that field. have yet to plant bachelor buttons

Caroline, my poppy seedlings this year are still tiny and they have come up very thick. All I do is wait until about January, then I scatter the seed where I want the poppies to grow, as I haven't had good luck transplanting poppies. I don't cover the seed or even tamp them down. I'm still kind of new at growing poppies, this being only my second year, and I did worry about the birds coming along and eating the seed so at first I covered the bed with some old curtain sheers that I keep for use in the garden. But at some point one end came loose from the edge and I watched closely and didn't see any birds coming to the raised bed to eat, so I took the sheers off and just ignored them until early spring, when I was out one day and noticed lots of little seedlings up. They have ridden out numerous nights of freezing temps and the only thing I did was to water from time to time during a dry spell.

It may be that planting in the fall is too early to plant? Maybe they broke dormancy too soon and then dried out, or maybe the birds ate the seed? Maybe they were covered too deep in the soil? At any rate one would think a few of them would've survived, from planting that many. You should have seedlings up by now if they've been out all winter, though. You might try stirring the top layer of soil up a little. When something doesn't germinate for me, I have a spot in one of the raised beds where I spread the dirt from ungerminated plantings. Sometimes things come up the next year out of that dirt!

I winter sowed some and transplanted them when very small; some of them disappeared. Lately I have been cutting off the top of the milk jug from winter sowing and putting it over them after transplanting. They are growing. The reseeded ones from last year's plants are coming up in the grass. I have moved some of those successfully. The beginning of this thread was frightening to me. Opium poppies are beautiful and prettier than shirley poppies. Oriental poppies are beautiful but perenial and you have to put up with ugliness after they bloom. Opium poppies are annuals which I pull up except for a few after they bloom. They are in gardening magazines, garden books, and seeds are sold in catalogs. I hope law enforcement people can tell a harmless plant addict from a drug addict.

Ilene and Helen, thanks for the information,

I will keep trying. :))

Caroline

G'day sticks22,.,how ya goin in good old Okie,.,I hope them godgobbers at the Philadelphia church of god,(who are a well known plague on your states landscape,and their chief godgobbering spruiker Gerald Flurry)haven't got on ya opium seed chase case,and given you a hard time.
It pisses me off to see all the do-gooders and moralistic morons getting stuck into you for asking your question.
I hope by now that you've grown some super huge pods of opium poppy.Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR2fLGR4bBI&feature=related
The main problem with trying to get enough product for a decent buzz is that you don't get the same crop yield per plant as you do from a skunk plant.What a frigging shame eh!!!
What a bloody magic poppy plant that would be.They are anyway,but just imagine if you could get a poppy with mega amount of pods on it like heads on a really good smoker joker.
Another problem is all the creepy cretins who try to dob you in to the pigs.Even though it aint illegal to grow these beautiful and majestic marvels of Muvva Nature,who I regularly have sex with in clouds of opioidal dreamy bliss.She's a triffik sheila is Mrs Muvva Nature.
If I had enough dosh to set up a multi headed opium poppy plant experiment I would.
eeeeeeeerz cheeeeeeerz to your earz sticksie 22
Let us know how ya got on(-:

How strange. I'm glad I only look at them if that is what they do to you.