Is it okay to plant these seeds?

[so lucky]

Those are beautiful!

 

[lesa]

Oh Cat, those are beautiful!! I have a pink/peach one that is one of the prettiest flowers in my garden....

 

[897tgigvib]

CatJac, why don't you try recreating the cross?

 

[catjac1975]

I pollinate my poppies every year. I have gotten color changes-coral being one of them. I am planting them quite late this year. That was such a strange hybrid, perhaps a mutation, that I do not know if nature would create that crazy plant again. I have never seen a professionally hybridized flower with half the flower one color and the other half another. In fact there are not any bicolored Oriental poppies that I can think of, though I think there are some annual poppies that have varied colors. It takes a few years to bloom from seed so it is not my priority-it's all about daylilies for me. I am starting a lot of seed this year where I have crossed whites, reds, corals, orange, and pinks. Time will tell the tale.

CatJac, why don't you try recreating the cross?

 

[GardenGeisha]

Interesting, Catjac!

So, if they need a bit of freezing first and in the dark, does this mean you'd have to freeze them in the refrigerator's freezer, and then sow them atop a flat of soil that you cover or keep in a dark room?

In other words, does it not work well at all to sow poppy seeds directly atop your garden or the ground if it gets daytime sun?

Maybe that is why I don't have much luck with poppy seeds? I have gotten Orientals to grow from seed sown in cool weather atop the ground, as well as California poppies and corn poppies, and some fancy poppies. I've never tried growing them indoors. But like you say, they tend not to transplant well.

So I'm confused...

Do you mean, you sow them outside, atop the soil when it is cool out, and cover them with a blanket to keep them dark?

I've already planted mine, although I held one packet of Black Swan poppy seeds back, in case we have rotten weather.

 

[catjac1975]

That's what I found online. I have done the process with saved seed so time will tell. I had easy luck a couple of times and no luck a couple of times-that was with out this process. The tossed billions of seeds from dead heads have produced a few plants on their own. Transplanting is always a problem.

Interesting, Catjac!

So, if they need a bit of freezing first and in the dark, does this mean you'd have to freeze them in the refrigerator's freezer, and then sow them atop a flat of soil that you cover or keep in a dark room?

In other words, does it not work well at all to sow poppy seeds directly atop your garden or the ground if it gets daytime sun?

Maybe that is why I don't have much luck with poppy seeds? I have gotten Orientals to grow from seed sown in cool weather atop the ground, as well as California poppies and corn poppies, and some fancy poppies. I've never tried growing them indoors. But like you say, they tend not to transplant well.

So I'm confused...

Do you mean, you sow them outside, atop the soil when it is cool out, and cover them with a blanket to keep them dark?

I've already planted mine, although I held one packet of Black Swan poppy seeds back, in case we have rotten weather.

 

[catjac1975]

So, I froze my saved poppy seeds for about 5 days. I planted them on top of good seed starting mix. I planted the dust like seeds very heavily. I put them underneath the bottom tray of my grow light cart. They were not in total darkness as the directions implied. They were in shade for about a week. Pretty much out of sight I nearly forgot them. I noticed and then checked them and I had many very tiny seedlings straining toward the light. I brought them out into the light and they have straightened out nicely and are looking good.
I dug up the volunteers from my seed pile. This is not the best time for transplanting but I thought they might be destroyed if left where they were. My dead head pile is on the riverbank in front of our house. We get a very nice naturalized flower bed every summer from the tossed seed heads.

 

[bj taylor]

I seed my larkspur and poppies in the fall usually. I did have some poppy seeds I forgot I had. I put them out about the middle of march. my fall seeded plants are much bigger & vigorous. I am zone 7.
I have never frozen these seeds & our winters here can be very mild as they have been the last two.

 

[897tgigvib]

Cat, you got it down how to do poppy seeds!

 

[seedcrazy]

I go out and in our first snow of the year, I sow my poppy seeds, I have them really large right now (zone 6a) and apparently the ones out front have self-sowed themselves all over my gravel parking pad and along the side walk. LOL I think I'll let them grow if my neighbor doesn't think they are a thistle and weedeats them down again this year thinking he is helping me. I LOVE that orange color. I have the double pink and double red peony poppies and then a few single mauve ones. I sowed all kinds this year, seems the self-sowing ones are doing more than the ones I sowed myself.