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lisa_h_gw

Seed Gathering: Poppies

Lisa_H OK
10 years ago

I am starting with the very easiest one, first :) Somniferum Poppy.

This is not a pic from this year, but it is the same flower:

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Comments (18)

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Seed pods. The tan ones with the holes under the "hat" are ready to harvest.

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Snip, snip, snip

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Shake, shake, shake

    When the pods are empty, I save one with the seeds (to remind me which flower it was) and then throw the rest of the heads into the garden to self compost.

    I take the seeds inside and let them dry for about a week. They have to be dry before storing them in a baby ziplock.

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Shirley poppies.

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Little fuzzy, but you can see the pods are smaller, but similar to the somniferum. Harvest the same.

  • OklaMoni
    10 years ago

    Nice lesson Lisa! Thank you.

    Moni

  • susanlynne48
    10 years ago

    Whoa, Lisa, my friend, those are gorgeous! I've never grown poppies, but I could easily be persuaded after seeing yours.......

    Takes me back to the wicked witch in Oz.......poppies......poppies.......

    Susan

  • mulberryknob
    10 years ago

    I have the Shirley poppies so know they are selfseeding annuals. What about the Somniferum? Are they annuals? They are lovely.

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yes, the somniferums are annuals too. They are the flower that made me try wintersowing. I desperately wanted them! That year I had a ton of them. Since then it is mostly a little here and there. But I get excited when I see their foliage pop up!

    Susan ....you should grow them! Or come visit mine!

  • momofsteelex3
    10 years ago

    Lisa- this is AWESOME! Thank you so much! I LOVE that 1st Poppy! It is beautiful! You make it look so easy to harvest those seeds, that I am pretty sure I could handle it!

    Dumb question, but are these poppy seeds like poppy seeds for muffins and such? Or is there a different kind for that?

    Bre

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    10 years ago

    Lisa, Great description of how to save the seeds and lovely photos.

    I used to save the seeds, and then realized if I left them alone, they sowed themselves, so I mostly just leave them alone and let the wind scatter them. I'll still collect some seed and scatter it myself if I want to spread them to a new area. I'll wait until the holes appear in the pods, and then I cut the stems and walk back to where I want poppies in a new place (carrying the stems with the seed pods in a plastic container so I'm not sowing seeds in the driveway or yard with every step I take) and then I walk around in the new area shaking the pods so the seeds fall out onto the ground. Easy as pie.

    I generally only grow Oriental, Corn and California poppies.

    Dawn

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Dawn, I used to save all my seed and then trade them. It was so much fun....and a full time job! I really enjoyed it. Lately though, I just yank and sprinkle! Bre was asking about how to save seed though, so I offered to do a tutorial. That is the easiest one I know! I will probably do a few more for her so she can see some of the differences. I'm going to save some seed for her too.

    Does anyone know if somniferum seeds can be used in baking? I think they are the same, but I don't know for sure.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    10 years ago

    Lisa, I know that breadseed poppies are P. somniferum, but not sure if all P. somniferum seeds are appropriate for use as breadseed poppies.

    For anyone who has a job that requires random drug-testing, it is smart to avoid eating poppyseed anything, as it can cause a person to fail a drug test since it shows up as opium. (This info came to me via OkieTim, who does indeed have to undergo random drug testing as a condition of his employment.)

    The variety of P. somniferum that I've seen sold specifically as breadseed poppy has the name pepperbox. Let me see if I can find it and link it.

    Dawn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pepperbox Poppy Seeds at KGS

  • momofsteelex3
    10 years ago

    Lisa- I can't wait to see more! I tried to post a question over on the seed gathering forum about collecting from my African Daisies and Osteospermum, but the forum seems to have died. So, I guess I will just experiment for myself and see what happens. I have to dead- head them, so I am guessing that I either need to collect the seeds then, or right before the blooms die off completely.

    I will have to order some of those Pepperbox Poppies then, bc I love lemon poppyseed muffins and make a pretty wicked orange poppyseed cake.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    10 years ago

    Well, now look what you've done, Bre....I'm going to have to make some poppy seed muffins now that you've got me thinking of them.

    Poppies are one of my favorite flowers. A large patch of them will take your breath away. The flowers look so thin and delicate, but they handle low rainfall better than just about anything else I grow and, as a bonus, they are gorgeous early in the season before some of the other flowers start blooming. If deadheaded regularly, they will bloom as late as mid-June down here where I live, even if they started blooming in March. I still have some corn poppies, larkspur and bluebonnets blooming in the front pasture, and normally all of them have just about finished up by now.They are more of a March-May flower, but in a rainy year, they can make it almost to the 4th of July. I don't have many left in bloom now, but am happy to see every single one.

  • momofsteelex3
    10 years ago

    Dawn- You enjoy those muffins! You just can't beat them! When they are done, you just come on up here and I will have the coffee or tea ready. :) Actually, that sounds like a great way to spend this afternoon while its raining, baking some muffins!

    I had never seen poppies before, except on the Wizard of Oz, so when we came down here in late March, early April of last year to look at towns and houses, I was in awe to see them all over the sides of the roads. And I think they are just lovely. And after Sammy posted that picture, I think larkspur's are just lovely too, as I had never seen them before either. There is something else here that was growing on the side of the road leading back into our area that I have no idea what it was that was beautiful. I kept telling Josh I was going to sneak up there one night and dig a bunch out to bring back here to plant. Upon a quick google search I think it might have been Indian Paintbrush. Oh and the Redbud trees..we didn't have those in Wichita. If we did they were few and far between. I think Oklahoma has opened my eyes a bit more to natures beauty, gardening, and just soaking it all in. Its a lot different here then being in a big city.

  • Lisa_H OK
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Bre, the secret to seed gathering is that the seed has to ripen on the plant. Generally that will mean that the seed pod turns brown/tan and opens up (if it is a pod). Daisy type flowers are a little different...but again, it will need to look pretty dead :)

    I had so much help when I first started, I didn't know anything! I had someone do a tutorial for me to show me how to figure out rudbeckia seeds from the chaff. I had sent a TON of chaff with the seeds so they offered to show me the difference. Then I learned about winnowing seeds. I'm sure my neighbors got a kick of me pouring seeds from one bowl to another trying to catch a GENTLE breeze :)

    Lisa

  • momofsteelex3
    10 years ago

    Lisa- I went out a picked a few heads to see what I would get, then I did a bit of google research..It seems that the best way to get these same plants again next year is to propagate(?) them, as the seeds are more often then not sterile? Anyways, when I dead-head them, I normally take the heads and rub them between my fingers through out the bucket I have them in. We will see if anything new comes out of it next year. I am not sure if I am brave enough to try and propagate anything. It sounds complicated.

    I will admit, I had to look up what winnowing meant! So much too learn..

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