Re: [gardeners] Spring
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 23 Mar 1998 07:47:31
At 10:18 PM 3/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>George, I am admiring your variety, planning, and energy.
>We woke up to a blanket of snow, surprise, surprise, so all
>thoughts of planting the snow peas evaporated. No problem,
>really, because my poor husband, Jimmie, worships snow,
>and has been unfulfilled this entire winter. He just plain enjoys
>shoveling!
You had better hang onto Jimmie, not many men like shoveling anything.
>I am interested in your poppies. I had brought home seed from
>England 4 years ago, blue Icelandic poppies, and decided to
>germinate them last year. Got an enormous result, and shared
>them with folks in Chicago, St.Louis and Connecticut. But we all
>had a very wet summer, and all the ones I had planted at those
>other houses drowned. Not mine, however. I kept only about
>8 plants to put where there are always two hours of morning sun,
>and 8 plants to put in total sun. The plants which got little sun
>collapsed down in a sprawling fashion, not at all pretty, but they
>all lived, and they all had flowers by August, even though that
>was probably 8 or more weeks late for them! There were some
>singles, and some doubles, some pink, some blue. The plants
>which were in full sun grew straight up like an arrow, resembling
>heads of romaine lettuce! Never got even one flower.....
>
>What has been your experience...?
>
>Penny Stamm, zone 6, NY
> pennyx1@Juno.com
>
We have planted Shirley poppies twice. We planted them the first time in
the early fall of 1996, they came up spring of 1997 and made a beautiful
display. Our first hot spell literally cooked them to death. So, we planted
again in the fall of 1997, they are up but not blooming yet. We are
currently having a cool spring so they may last a little longer. It is my
understanding they are not the ideal plant for hot, humid Louisiana but do
prefer the cooler weather. We grow them in the front flower bed that seldom
gets direct sunlight but does get plenty of light.
George