Poppy porn... I have to read this post about how to master growing annual poppies later. It's my favorite flower and I don't have enough of it in my "garden", I feel I have to use "" when I say garden because it's not really a garden but an awful mess.

Like always…

Plenty to do in the garden but I only have two hands. The first poppy of the season is in bloom and it made me really happy when I spotted it, even though I’m not that happy about the color. I want it to be really red and not that red/orange color… but hey. All my poppy pictures look exactly the same... need more practice.


The papaya is enjoying the sun on the balcony. I really didn't expect it to grow but it did, and it looks nice against the blue house. But will it make it through the winter? I think it's too warm and dry for him but we'll see.


Introducing Prins Padda. I think he's a cutie! He needs to move down to The Tea Corner though but... I need to sweep The Tea Corner.


The boxes are filled with potatoes and corn, only one kind of potatoes is peeking up though. I had to get the box that had “Arvid, you old rascal!” written on the side of it.

The Tea Corner

I think I want some grass and poppies there. Sounds easy somehow, I’m sure it’s not and I’ll complain about something late but at the time it seems like a good idea.

Annual poppies and feather grass (stipa pennata). My feather grass does not look like that, I hope it will one day… mine are just a few straws. Picture found here.

Current plants at The Tea Corner
1. Poppies, annual and perennial
2. English Poppies (I don’t want them there and I’m removing them the moment I see them)
3. Aquilegia (removing them)
4. Tulips
5. Allium
6. Lavender
7. Bleeding heart
8. Climbing rose “Flammentanz”
9. Elephant grass (miscanthus)
10. Lily of the valley
11. Anemone nemorosa
12. Daisies (bellis perennis)
13. Peony (There should be but I haven’t seen it yet, have I killed it? That’s what I thought before and I bought a new one)
14. Iris
15. Scabiosa
16. Rudbeckia
17. Boxwood
18. Forget-me-not
19. Tiger lilies
20. Garlic

There could be more plants, what a horrible mixture of plants… I don’t like it at all but it’s become a place where I just plant things because I don’t have many flower beds. What are the colors here… red, pink, purple, blue, lavender, green, white, yellow, orange. Sometimes I just want to start over… but what would I do different if I started over?

I think I have some Stipa seeds so I'm off to plant them.

Learning the hard way…

Planning has always been the main problem in the garden, well the lack of… I usually think that the small size is the problem but it’s not. Me not planning is the problem. Like with my Aquilegia vulgaris seeds I collected, “Oh, I just pour them out all over the place”, now I have Aquilegia all over the place and I’m not that found of them. There’s plenty in The Tea Corner and I feel poppies are more appropriate and besides, I like poppies a lot more.

So I am now trying to get rid of them from The Tea Corner to make room for some poppies. Perhaps I should plant the Aquilegia by the hedge? It’s just weeds there anyway and I don’t mind some flowers between the weeds… The area by the hedge is awful…

Someone said, “A gardener’s work is never done”, so true.

Oops…

(papaver commutatum "Ladybird")

I forgot to buy my poppy seeds, Ladybird. I thought I had saved some but I can't find any so... Now I have to make a new order, and you have to buy for 100kr at least so I better buy some other things too because a 100kr worth of Ladybird is a lot of poppies. Think I’ll go with herbs and other plants that birds and butterflies likes.

Yesterday

Sowed a few seeds

Outside:
Baby’s breath Gypsophila paniculata
Papaver spicatum
Japanese poppy
Common vervain (verbena officinalis)
Blue vervain (verbena hastata)
Papaver amurense
Atlas poppy (Papaver atlanticum)
Papaver lateritium
Eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Great globe thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus)
Fuller’s teasel (dipsacus fullonum)
Ice poppy (papaver croceum)
Rooted Poppy (Papaver radicatum)
Spanish Poppy (Papaver rupifragum)
Alpine Poppy (Papaver alpinum)

Indoors:
Verbena Canadensis (which grow over night! I saw a little green guy making he’s way up when I inspected them today)

A few days ago

The dahlias started to peek up and today the sweet peas did too. I still have loads of seeds to sow… But hopefully it will be worth it.

Now we waiting to the poppies to grow, come on cuties, make mamma happy…

Yesterday and today

Yesterday: I check the dahlias again, no change since the last time I check them.

Today: I sowed lots of seeds, begonia, violets, dahlia, Mauranthemum paludosum, tagetes, Impatiens, bleeding heart, Japanese poppy, hairy poppy, Papaver lateritium, atlas poppy and Ipomoea purpurea.

Keep your fingers crossed now…

Hmm…

I should have made an order earlier but I haven’t and now I’m sitting here wondering if I should remove some of the stuff, add just a few more or if I’m done. Whenever I feel, “Okay, done” it’s like standing in line by the register surrounded by candy and having an empty stomach!

I’ve found a few cuties that I want but it’s already pretty full in all my flowerbeds, not sure I’ll find space for it all. Some of the poppies look pretty dull and one is dull looking and pricey, but I want ALL poppies and I know I’ll love him when he’s here so what to do!?

I’ve never had Zinnias and they seem cute and easy (knock on wood) so I think I just have to have a few of those.

Zinnia, pic found here

Zinnia, pic found here

Update: I managed to remove one papaver rhoeas but it was hard. There was this really cute mixed called, “Angel’s choir mix” but I guess I can live without… I didn’t get any peony poppies either.

Soon it’s December

Which means, catalog time! It’s time to start looking for seeds! Even though I have loads of them at home already but… I might have missed a few good ones?

Wishlist (so far)
Sunflowers
Cornpoppy
English Marigold
Dahlia
Mallow
Cosmos/Mexican aster

I thought that the poppies would be gone by now

But no, they keep blooming and there are plenty of buds. Pretty sure that they are regular corn poppies and they bloom from July – august but not in my garden apparently, which I’m fine with. I’m my garden things usually bloom late.

( I love that you can see the little red hairs on this one)

Today

Planted five ”Beauty of Livermere” that I sowed this spring(two or perhaps even three are in questionable condition) by the Inka dude the other day, just saying so I’ll remember it. Have be digging a little and pulling weeds, it’s nowhere near perfect. I would need some kind of stop, an edge of some sort of prevent the weeds from getting “back in”.

And, I want to replace the stone “wall” we have here with something stronger and better, something a bit more reliable. I want the stone wall to be instead of The Slope and perhaps a low fence on top of it… The Slope is a problem… tricky tricky…

I love poppies!

It’s very easy to become a collector of plants and I feel I’ll become an insane poppy collector (and maybe a dahlia one too) but I’m okay with that. According to Wikipedia there a 120-odd species of papaver (but according to my "bible" there's only about 50...)and I want them all! Trying to focus on the perennials first. So far…

Alpine Poppy (Papaver alpinum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)
'Ladybird' (Papaver commutatum) (Annual)
Ice Poppy (Papaver croceum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)
Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale)
Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) (Annual)
Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) (Annual)
Spanish Poppy (Papaver rupifragum) (Seeds, sow spring 2009)

Perennial poppies available at Rara Växter: Papaver amurense, Atlas Poppy (Papaver atlanticum), (Papaver lateritium flora plena), Japanese Poppy (Papaver miyabeanum), Hairy Poppy (?)(Papaver pilosum), Papaver spicatum

Annual poppies available at Rara Växter: Tulip Poppy (Papaver glaucum), Long Pricklyhead Poppy (Papaver argemone) and Long-headed Poppy (Papaver dubium) (which I have a huge crush on base on the picture… drool. Have to get that one for next season)

Perennial poppies available at Impecta: Rooted Poppy (Papaver radicatum)

Looks like I have to make a big fat order early next year…

Today

Planted some poppies by the greenhouse, “Victoria Louise” and I still have a few pots left of her but not idea where to plant her so I will have to tuck her and all of her little friends in for winter and come up with something next season. I wonder how long it will take before they bloom… Maybe tiny little blossom next season? Let’s hope so. So that means that it was probably “Carneum” that I planted by the Tea Corner. (I’m very sloppy and I always lose track of what I plant where and so on.)

Took a few lavender cuttings and another yew, I used some rooting hormone on all of them. Even though I have several small plants of lavender everywhere and will most likely sow more next spring… why? Because I can I guess.

Today

I started cleaning up, making the garden ready for winter. Got all the dahlias I grew some seed this spring and cutting all the leaves off and putting them in labeled paper bags, hopefully some of them will live through the winter. Some are really big and it’s not THAT cold during the nights yet so they can stay in their pots or flowerbed but the babies got bagged. My favorite is an Oxford baby with really dark foliage; I hope the flowers are just as nice. And I hope I'll have some seeds of my own to sew next spring. (If I get any seeds I'm willing to share)

The raspberries are absolutely everywhere, must find something to prevent them from spreading but so far no luck. A plastic rain barrel is the best thing so far but it was way too expensive, especially since I plan to cut it. Anyway, trimmed them and some of the lavender, planted cuttings in individual pots and dug them down under the rhododendron (which I hope to edge with boxwood, love edging).

And took a picture of the last poppies for the season, I think...

Some kind of Papaver rhoeas but which I don’t know, I do have to get all the seeds since I want only blue and pink in The Backyard. Red is best up close so The Front Yard and/or The Slope