Oh, this is a classic!
I put a variety of poppy seeds into a container-all of the seeds were collected with the exception of some Iceland poppies. Nothing happened, so being short on room I stuck some jasmine rooted from cuttings on there. A few months later there is a seedling that looks different from the others-not a CA poppy, not and Iceland poppy-that only leaves the seeds I got out of a big beautiful poppy pod purchased at a florist.
As this "poppy" grew my husband and I were very excited. A flower bud formed, my husband took pictures (I can't put them on here-old tech) and I shared in his enthusiasm even though, deep in my heart I knew something wasn't right. It just didn't look like a poppy.
Finally it opens-and we have some sort of aster/daisy. Orange petals with a yellow center-really quite fetching but a poppy? Not.
So I laughed like hell and enjoy my aster/daisy things. Another bud has formed and they are quite nice-wherever they came from.
I had to move the jasmine plants out and guess what? While I'm steering away from confidence this time, there they were-seedlings that as best as I can tell by comparing with photos are poppy-not California which is easily identified. I wonder what they'll be??? Maybe we'll at least hit the right genus this time!
I live for this kind of stuff!
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tenderloingardener
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- Location: San Francisco
Sometimes seeds fall out of the packs and end up at the bottom of the zip loc. Sometimes I can identify them at least if they are a squash, papaya, lettuce, but sometimes they are a mystery. So, not wanted to waste any seed, I plant them in a tray and wait for them to declare themselves.
On the subject of poppies though, I planted some California poppies once and they took so long to grow I forgot about them. Then, there were these strange looking pods that I was watering and a neighbor passed by and asked if they were poppies and then I remembered I did plant poppy seeds.
On the subject of poppies though, I planted some California poppies once and they took so long to grow I forgot about them. Then, there were these strange looking pods that I was watering and a neighbor passed by and asked if they were poppies and then I remembered I did plant poppy seeds.
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tenderloingardener
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- Posts: 71
- Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:39 pm
- Location: San Francisco
Oh, but it gets better! After hours of research I finally discovered that I'd grown a lovely orange calendula! I'm quite pleased as this is an edible and useful plant as well as being pretty but one can hardley mistake the seeds for anything else-assuming you know what they are.
I suspect I may have done something similar to your story-I had a seed flat that I had put some CA poppy seeds in, as well as what I believed were pink "Shirley's" a double petal that some seed catalogues class under E. californicum while others put it under P. rhoeas and nothing happened for weeks so I decided to try some of the "funny looking maybe seeds" from the Aster relative I had foraged them from in there. After a few more weeks of nothing I think I may have dumped that seed flat into an "assorted poppy pot" thinking that the strange half -moon things weren't seeds after all.
Live and learn, laugh at your mistakes as much as possible.
With regard to CA poppies I've found that the fresher the seeds are the more quickly they germinate. .
Wish me luck on the seedlings that have come up recently-sowed late July- that they are some kind of poppy at least!
I suspect I may have done something similar to your story-I had a seed flat that I had put some CA poppy seeds in, as well as what I believed were pink "Shirley's" a double petal that some seed catalogues class under E. californicum while others put it under P. rhoeas and nothing happened for weeks so I decided to try some of the "funny looking maybe seeds" from the Aster relative I had foraged them from in there. After a few more weeks of nothing I think I may have dumped that seed flat into an "assorted poppy pot" thinking that the strange half -moon things weren't seeds after all.
Live and learn, laugh at your mistakes as much as possible.
With regard to CA poppies I've found that the fresher the seeds are the more quickly they germinate. .
Wish me luck on the seedlings that have come up recently-sowed late July- that they are some kind of poppy at least!
Respect existence or expect resistance