Perennial poppy is a beautiful plant with exquisite flowers. Despite the short flowering period, it is still popular among some gardeners. The flower was known in ancient Rome. In those days, as now, it was successfully used in medicine.
Description
Poppy is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Poppy family. It happens perennial, annual and biennial. In total, in nature there are about 100 of its species, and in our country and in neighboring countries - about 75.
The flowers are single, of regular shape, the stem is long and thin, sometimes pubescent, sometimes smooth.
Carved leaves are in perfect harmony with the delicate shades of pink, scarlet, yellow, orange, white and even two-tone flowers.
Poppy fruits - boxes, as if closed on top with a carved round lid.
Types and varieties of poppy
Many of us are accustomed to the wild form of this flower: delicate scarlet petals with a black spot at the base of the bowl. But there are many different varieties of decorative perennial poppy of varying degrees of terry. Consider the most common of them.
Opium poppy
The most common annual opium poppy. Flowers are of varying degrees of terry and color: pink, red, purple, purple, lilac, white. Plant height on average 90 cm, diameter about 15 cm.
In the gardens, a pion-shaped form of poppy is often planted, characterized by larger double flowers.
Varieties of this rather unpretentious and delicate plant bred a lot. We list the most beautiful:
- 'Black Cloud'. The plant is annual. The stems are tall (up to 1 m), straight, green. Single, pion-shaped, dark purple flowers with a diameter of about 10 cm are located on the peduncles. The beginning of flowering is July-August, lasting an average of 30 days. This variety has a fairly high cold resistance.
- 'Salmon cloud'. Annual plant. The leaves are gray-green, the stem is erect, up to 100 cm high. Terry orange-scarlet flowers, with a diameter of about 10 cm, begin to bloom in July. The duration of flowering is an average of 30 days.
Poppy samoseyka
A grassy annual plant about 80 cm high. The flowers can be simple, double and semi-double. The colors are very different: red, pink, white, with a border (white, red). Reproduction is most often seed. Poppy samoseyka has many forms and varieties.
Poppy single-stemmed
Perennial poppy. The plant is low (20-50 cm), the flowers are quite small (5 cm in diameter), but they are white, yellow, orange. Such beautiful flowers grow in abundance on Lake Baikal, in the upper Amur Region, in Yakutia. The flowering period is June-July. The plant is widely used in medicine. One of the varieties is Atlant, a perennial poppy about 20 cm high. The flowers are single, white and yellow. Flowering begins in June and lasts 2 months.
Papaver oriental perennial
Of all the varieties of poppies that exist in nature, this species is considered the most beautiful and beloved among gardeners. Planting poppy perennial and care will not require special knowledge and skills of agricultural technology. Sometimes there are some difficulties only when transplanting already adult plants.
The large, beautiful, rich red buds of this perennial poppy bloom in early summer. The plant is residually tall. Stems can reach up to a meter in height. Poppy grows with powerful enough bushes, and thanks to the efforts of breeders, it can boast of many colors, different texture of petals.
Perennial oriental poppy (we will consider planting and care later in the article) can be propagated in several ways: sowing seeds directly into the soil, by dividing the bush and green shoots. Lateral shoots (cuttings) must first be rooted, and it should take about two to three years for them to bloom. Transplanting this plant is quite difficult, but still possible, even though the poppy does not respond very well to moving to another place.
Let us further consider the peculiarities of planting poppy perennial and care for this beautiful plant.
When to sow oriental poppy?
If the annual varieties of poppy begin to bloom in the year of planting, then the perennial is likely to bloom for the next season (if the seeds are sown in the fall). When planted in spring, flowers will appear on the bushes later than in autumn sowing. Poppies bloom by early summer.
The fruit of this plant is a box, covered with a “lid” on top. When it dries, small holes appear between it and the lid. If you leave a box with seeds on the bush, as a result of self-seeding, seeds will spill out through these holes. And such a cycle will be repeated annually.
How to collect seeds?
This is not difficult: you need to wait until the boxes are completely dry, after which they are carefully cut and stored in a bag of dense fabric. You can also leave grayish-black, small seeds of perennial poppy in boxes or removing the lid and pour planting material into a glass container. Some right on the site wrap gauze over the flower heads. This method does not allow seeds to wake up on the ground.
Landing
Planting poppy seeds of the eastern perennial is not at all complicated. Sowing material is planted immediately in the ground, either in spring or in autumn. As said earlier, flowers after sowing will appear in the second or even third year.
If the seeds are too small, they can even not be deeply buried, but only slightly pressed.
When planting seeds for seedlings, when 5 young leaves appear, plants can be planted in beds or flower beds. But, as a rule, the seedling method is not used, and the seeds are immediately sown in a permanent place.
There is an opinion that for good germination poppy seeds need stratification. That is why experienced gardeners advise sowing in early spring, when there is a chance of frost. If planting is carried out in a region with a mild climate, it is better to sow poppy in the fall so that the seeds receive the necessary stratification. In the spring they will ascend safely.
Before planting a flower garden, you just need to loosen the ground with a rake and sprinkle the seed. Some gardeners mix it with sand. After that, the seeds are sprinkled on top with a thin layer of earth. Moreover, the main thing is not to deepen them much, since subsequently they may simply not have enough strength to ascend. The landing site needs to be watered, but without much water.
Features of the cultivation of oriental poppy
This is a fairly unpretentious plant that can tolerate low temperatures well. But, despite this, it loves sunny places, although it grows well and blooms in the shade. Like all flowers, a perennial poppy, the care of which is not at all complicated, loves well-fertilized soil. To do this, use mineral dressing or compost and humus. It is good to plant seeds in sandy soil. The plant reacts very poorly to abundant watering and stagnation of water. Perennial garden poppy is not afraid of stones in the soil, grows well on sandy soil. Thanks to the root in the form of a long rod, it extracts moisture from the ground, and can do without watering for a long time.
This type of poppy responds relatively well to transplants, but this work is best done in the fall, when the rainy season begins. In order not to damage the roots, it is advisable to transplant the plant together with an earthen lump. So it takes root better.
When digging the soil under the flower garden, it is important to take into account the features of the root root system of this flower. The digging depth should be a minimum of 30-40 cm. In this case, it is advisable to immediately make compost or humus (5-10 kg of organic fertilizers are added to each square meter of soil). In one place, the flower grows well and blooms for 5-7 years, after which its place needs to be changed.
This perennial poppy (photo attached) is large, so even when planting (or transplanting), you need to take care that the distance between the bushes is at least 50-70 cm.
You can put mulch or peat. The flower will look more attractive. In addition, it will benefit the plant. Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers can be carried out in the spring, during the period of leaf growth, and during budding, i.e., immediately before flowering.
When to transplant an oriental poppy?
Since this plant is a perennial, after 3-5 years it becomes a large sprawling bush that can be divided and propagated. To do this, it is not necessary to completely extract the plant from the ground, you can gently separate part of the rhizome from the side.
It is impossible to say that oriental poppy in a new place is well established, but if you pay attention to it, provide proper care, and surround it with care, the result will be successful.
It is important to consider that the roots of the flower are quite fragile, therefore, to get a good result, it is better to separate the roots from the sides. The best time for this operation is May, when the poppy has not yet begun to bloom. In order to minimize the risk of rhizome fracture, a part of the plant needs to be separated with a large lump of earth.
Reproduction by dividing the bush is good because after this procedure there is almost a 100% guarantee that all varietal characters of the species are preserved. So the new bushes will have the same decorative properties as the mother plant. The poppy bush for this is completely removed from the earth along with a lump of earth, then very carefully divided into several parts. They are seated at a distance of about 70 cm from each other. It must be remembered that for the winter, in the first year of life, plants will need to be hidden under any covering material.
Eastern poppy can also be propagated by cuttings. For this, lateral shoots are separated from the bush. Then, the resulting cuttings are kept in disinfectant composition for about a day (Kornevin solution can also be used to stimulate root formation). At the end of this time, shoots are planted in containers with loose and moist soil, covered with transparent plastic disposable glasses or plastic wrap. After the appearance of the roots, the cuttings are transplanted into a flower bed. If you need to transplant a whole bush to a new place, they dig it out together with an earthen lump immediately after flowering.
Oriental poppy in garden design
Unfortunately, poppy pleases with its bright beautiful flowering for long.
In a flowerpot, cut flowers can stand no more than a day, and in a flowering flowerbed - a maximum of 3 days. Then the plant begins to lose its petals; only the box with seeds remains on the bud together. But such a bush has a peculiar beauty. The rounded cap is crowned with a “cap” with beautiful carved edges, and its graceful thin stalk rises above the rest of the plants in the flower garden.
Oriental poppy is a fairly high plant, which harmoniously combines with other flowers. It can be used as a background for stunted garden representatives or as a separate decorative part of the flower garden. You can place the poppy in the back of the flowerbed. During the period of his short flowering, he will show himself, so to speak, in all its glory, while the neighboring flowers will only grow. So they will not obscure it during their flowering.
On the flower garden, as the main emphasis, poppy looks harmoniously with geraniums, blue or white garden bells, oregano, yarrow, lupins, irises. Plants with ornamental leaves, such as astilbe or hosts, can act as a frame for poppy bushes. To close the bush after flowering, you can plant perennials next to it with wide spreading leaves, for example, trillium or buzulnik. The oriental poppy, planted along the curbs, looks good, but one should not forget about its high growth.
It is advisable to have any support near the bushes, since under its weight the plant can lie on the ground.
Care Features
Caring for a plant after flowering involves cutting yellowed and dried leaves and stems — this is done if you do not plan to collect seeds. The ground part of the plant is cut off near the soil itself. In early autumn, new leaves will appear, but not so tall and sprawling. If you need to save the seeds, then after flowering everything is left as is, waiting for the seed bolls to dry, then they are carefully cut. After collecting the seed material, the ground part of the plant is cut. Before the cold weather comes, the bushes can be covered with mulch, but this is not necessary, since they are quite frost-resistant.
Disease
The plant can be affected by ashtray (powdery mildew), black spotting. The affected bush must be irrigated with special preparations containing copper, for example, copper sulphate, Bordeaux mixture, Maxim contact fungicide, Topaz systemic fungicide. If the bush was struck by the disease, all affected shoots and leaves need to be cut and burned, and the poppy itself should be fertilized with potassium top dressing.
To preserve varietal qualities, planting poppy perennial and care for it must be carried out separately from its other species. This is necessary so that the flowers do not pollinate among themselves and do not change the varietal color and texture of the petals.
By planting these lush and beautiful flowers on your flowerbed, you can enjoy them for several years.