California poppy seeds make their way into everything: compost, dirt, veggie garden boxes. The poppies out-compete veggie seedlings (esp. the ones I only see once a month), leaving them dead, while the poppy plants are maybe 15 inches across. They're a tap-rooted plant: small underground, huge aboveground. Easy to remove, but such a quick life cycle that there are seeds everywhere. Who knows how long I'll have to pull poppies out of my veggie box in Palo Alto?rainbowgardener wrote:Good suggestions, cynthia, but how can anyone hate California poppies, our beloved state flower? I love them and plant them every year, since here in Ohio they don't survive on their own. They are a sign of "home" to me having grown up in California.
And at my own house: I HAD a planting circle out front. It hosted sunflowers and amaryllis (naked ladies) in two concentric circles, with hollyhocks on the crown/center of the soil. Now, what's growing besides the amaryllis are: mint (yes, it grew UNDER the sidewalk), kikuyu grass, and California poppies. Oh, and a few sow thistles and dandelions.
I don't have enough soil to keep these pig plants happy; I don't think there's enough soil in the state of California to keep them happy. They don't (unfortunately) out-compete Yellow Star Thistle; *that* would be wonderful!
No, they just bully nice veggies, sunflowers, hollyhocks (which *had* been self-sowing...), and other mild-mannered garden plants.
They've earned "weed" status in my book, for the gardens I'm responsible for.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9