Poppies as Cut Flowers

Poppies are usually considered as undesirable as cut flowers because they will not keep. I use them freely for cut flowers every summer with this precaution. In the evening I pick off all blooms that have not already lost their petals so that in the morning all the open flowers will be new ones. These are cut as early as possible even while the dew is still on them and plunged immediately into deep water. After they are well soaked, say an hour, they can be distributed into vases and many of them will last two days.

I buy single mixed seed of the annuals which includes the Shirley poppy (Papaver Rharas, var. Shirley) and the single and semi-double opium poppies (Papaver somniferum).

I sow them in rather broad rows with alternate rows of asters which make their growth and flower after the poppies are gone, but sometimes I plant them by scattering the seed broadcast and raking it in.

The poppies should be thinned out after they are up a few inches retaining only the strongest plants. After the first year it is seldom necessary to buy seeds as they bloom and seed so freely that one can save all the seeds wanted. When they are in bloom all the unattractive colors and weak plants should be removed so they will not ripen seed.

Pull up all the dead plants as soon as they finish blooming and if they are not there already, plant late asters or other plants from the nursery rows.

Nothing self-sows so readily as do the poppies. If the ground is gently raked the following spring, to soften and even the surface, the poppies will come up so thickly that they will probably need thinning. These self sown plants are in their glory on the fourth of July, while the spring-sown ones are generally two or three weeks later. The same result may be obtained by preparing a bed and sowing in the fall. Two or three spring sowings can be made for a succession.

Poppy seed may be scattered among young perennials, and serve to fill up the space during the early part of the summer. By the time the perennials want the room the poppies are gone; or it can be sown among newly planted shrubs, with gladioli for alter bloom.

One of the most interesting things I have observed about poppies is the crossing of the different varieties. Nearly every year I have one or more colorings that I did not have the year before. They love moisture, and if it is not a wet summer, when they are at their best, they must be watered freely.

ILLINOIS EDITH GRANGER