Do you deadhead poppies?

[tothelefttotheleft]

Can't work it out from information online.

Depends if you want it to self-sow or save the seed? If so, leave it be.

What type of poppies? I deadhead the welsh ones in my garden and they grow back but the ornamentals don't.

I deadhead Welsh poppies, mostly to stop them self seeding everywhere while I work up the arsed to dig them out properly.
Big poppies, I only deadhead if there's another bud in the offing, as I like the dry seed heads in the winter.

No, I love seeds them pop up everywhere; if they’re in the wrong place I pull them out.

Thankyou everyobe. I love this board!

So dead heading them doesn't lead to more poppies? In that case I'll leave them alone.

They are big poppies. I'll try and take a picture of the one I like best cos it's beautiful.

Isn't it pretty!

Definitely leave that one alone, the seed heads dry out beautifully and add interest over winter when everything else has died back.

Beautiful. My lovely MIL saved some poppy heads that grew on a compost heap about 16 years ago. I scattered the seeds in my garden and leave the heads until they dry, then shake them over the beds. Every year they come back

I'll try that this year. Even though I bought logout or five of those poppies cheap from Morrisons they are so beautiful that I'd like more!

No I let them scatter and spread

I don’t deadhead mine and they still keep going till August or beyond. Well, until I’m feeling I’ve had my fill of poppies.

I love the seed heads of the larger ones so I leave them.

I only have a bog standard red oriental poppy at present as it's a small garden, but had the gorgeous Victoria Louise in my old garden (From Morrison's too!). It flowers for a good long time, then once over I cut it back late June for a second flush in August (otherwise they start to look a bit tatty). It dies off overwinter, then it leaps back into growth from around April.
I also had a Patty's Plum and of course a ubiquitous red one I inherited with the garden.

No, I want more poppies so leave them be. I have tried sowing bought poppy seeds numerous times and never managed to get any, so the free feral ones are welcome.

I think we may have crossed wires 😁; if you are sowing them in the garden they are generally annuals like papaver somniferum (opium poppy types) or Californian poppy (Eschscholzia ) and you are correct, leave them be. I had feral ones in a couple of gardens; one from opium crops grown for The WWI hospital that had been on the site originally and some in the last garden that sprung up all round the village that originated in the 19th century from opium crops grown in the local fields! The seeds can last up to 90 years in the ground and would suddenly pop up after I had been digging in a site that had none before!

They are beautiful op 😍
Thanks for this, I was a bit confused too! Love the seed heads and the self sown ones.

Mine are the opium poppies. They do take up a lot of room as they are massive plants

My Lauren's Grape which was the big hit at Tatton Park a few years ago.
It's in the greenhouse - the seeds I scattered in the garden are struggling as it's been so dry (but rained last night !!!).

I do deadhead mine - they're all yellow which I'm not keen on. I have tried to grow orange ones but they all come up yellow😡Could it be the soil do you think? I would love to have some orange poppies after all the years of trying!

@Onlyforaday I assume you're talking about Welsh poppies, we have a mix of orange and yellow so it can't be soil.

We leave them on until the heads dry. Then DH spreads liberally.

Annual Poppy seeds are very long lasting. As annuals, they need clear ground, they’re not good at competition. So they’re triggered into germination by light - if the ground has been turned over so a buried seed is now the light, there’s a good chance the soil is clear

Oh right! I'm not sure what they are - just the common yellow ones that are everywhere round here. I am going to try and get some seeds for orange ones and give that a go. In the past it has been established plants we've bought.
Thank you for replying.

I just wish the fancy opium poppy types would self-seed better, I always ended up with the pale lilac and the odd white one despite maximum seed sprinkling of the pinks and plums! Do they revert I wonder?

For @Onlyforaday I ended up buying an orange Welsh poppy which did self-seed beautifully; they are not awfully long lived, mine were 4 years old at most. If you are by the coast your yellow poppies might be horned poppies instead; I've only seen these in yellow so far.

That poppy is gorgeous!!!