Poppy flowers are small, brightly colored flowers with a black center. Although they are commonly known as the plant from which opium is produced, these plants make an excellent addition to any garden or landscape. Poppy flowers grow in the summer months, and the seeds are readily available at most garden centers. If a gardener already has poppies, or knows someone who does, he can simply harvest the seed pod from an existing plant. These seed pods are full of seeds that will each grow into a poppy plant.
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After poppy flowers bloom in the summer, they produce seed pods in the fall. For this reason, gardeners who want to grow poppies must harvest them the fall season prior to when they will be planted.
Locate an existing poppy flower and wait until it develops a seed pod, which occurs during late summer or early fall. The seed pod will grow on a long stem that is much taller than the rest of the plant. When the pod turns from green to a papery brown, cut it off of the stem using pruning shears.
Lay a piece of white paper on a flat surface and put the dried poppy pods on top of it. Use scissors to gently cut a hole in the seed pod and empty the seeds onto the paper. Do this carefully, as poppy seeds are tiny.
Store the poppy seeds in an envelope placed in a dry location until ready to plant them the next spring.
Choose a location in the yard to plant the poppy flowers in that receives full sun for the majority of the day. Pull up any existing weeds and grass so that they do not compete with the tiny seeds for water and nutrients. Rake the area thoroughly to loosen the top inch of soil and water the area so that it is thoroughly moist.
Open the envelop in which the poppy seeds were stored, and sprinkle them over the moist soil in an even layer. Do not cover the seeds with soil, as they require light in order to germinate. Keep the seeds moist by watering once every day until they germinate in approximately seven to ten days.
Having a flower bed full of beautiful poppy flowers is a very rewarding experience. It is even more rewarding if they are cultivated from seeds collected from the dried poppy pods.
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