Oriental poppies

[cheops]

My oriental poppies have almost finished flowering. Great show as usual and as each flower finished I have removed the seed head and stem. When then do finish flowering completely should I cut away all the foliage at ground level. I’m asking this as I seem to be getting conflicting information from various sources.

[nickdub]

I reckon they'll be stronger next year if you let the foliage die back naturally - bear in mind that I'm the polar opposite of a tidy gardener though. :-)

[cheops]

Thx Nickdub - I wouldn’t do it just to be tidy. What you say makes sense though last year I left them alone and the foliage never died down much -in fact all through the winter they threw up large buds but they never opened properly so the plants in that sense never got a rest. Hopefully someone who grows them will come along and share their experience and knowledge.

[Thelma Sanders]

I cut mine back in the autumn tidy-up, if that helps. But you are right though, they do seem to have a few leaves through the winter unless they freeze, and even then they quickly regrow some more afterwards.

[cheops]

Thanks Thelma - i’ll Not cut them back till the autumn. The advice from someone who grows them and does what works is more valuable than any web page or book. There is one particular clump which are a striking crimson with fringed petals and a large black spot low down on the petal which I want to propagate so tell me if I’m wrong but this is what I’m gonna do. In autumn cut back all foliage. Dig around the clump and lift. Break off several pieces with a good bit of root to make new plants -plant these immediately and replace what’s left of the clump.

[Scarlet]

I’ll be a bit different! I’m not someone that bothers to tidy up but do tidy mine up not long after flowering when the foliage starts to look past it’s best because I have rudbeckia plants growing around the plant - so I make way for them to come through. I just give them a little trim around the sides ( though I leave the seed heads as they are pretty and for keeping seed) and before autumn comes they seem to regrow some newer foliage that overwinters. So I think you could do either.

[cheops]

Your poppies look stunning Scarlet. I tried to upload a photo of mine but it kept failing to upload. My poppies tend to be taller than yours which means yours are more compact and peaceful looking. Thanks for your input - I might do a compromise - do a little tidying after blooming is finished but do it more severely in the autumn along with the dividing.

[Mitzi]

a striking crimson with fringed petals and a large black spot low down on the petal

Suspect that one is "Ladybird" although it's not generally fringed.

Root cuttings are supposed to be the way to propagate oriental poppies although I've never tried it. I have never cut the leaves off after flowering; leave them to photosynthesise to build the plant up for next year.

[cheops]

Mitzi - that red fringed poppy I have was a surprise. A couple of years ago I ordered 5 x oriental poppies [the orange ones] but one of them turned out to be a crimson fringed one. It is a truly stunning one -that’s why I’m gonna try and propagate it. You are correct - I did read root cuttings can be done if you wants lots of new plants but it takes longer for the plant to establish. I also read you can fork out the plant and break off pieces with a decent piece of root to quickly establish new plants.

[cheops]

Just googled it - the fringed crimson poppy is called -poppy-turkenlouis

[Scarlet]

Suspect that one is "Ladybird" although it's not generally fringed.

Root cuttings are supposed to be the way to propagate oriental poppies although I've never tried it. I have never cut the leaves off after flowering; leave them to photosynthesise to build the plant up for next year.

Ladybird is an annual I think and is much smaller than the oriental poppies.

[Scarlet]

Mitzi - that red fringed poppy I have was a surprise. A couple of years ago I ordered 5 x oriental poppies [the orange ones] but one of them turned out to be a crimson fringed one. It is a truly stunning one -that’s why I’m gonna try and propagate it. You are correct - I did read root cuttings can be done if you wants lots of new plants but it takes longer for the plant to establish. I also read you can fork out the plant and break off pieces with a decent piece of root to quickly establish new plants.

They grow very well from saved seed, but I've also split mine a few times.....they seem pretty hardy.

[Scarlet]

Your poppies look stunning Scarlet. I tried to upload a photo of mine but it kept failing to upload. My poppies tend to be taller than yours which means yours are more compact and peaceful looking. Thanks for your input - I might do a compromise - do a little tidying after blooming is finished but do it more severely in the autumn along with the dividing.

Your image is too large - either crop it or use an image resizer software.

[Vince G]

I cut the stem to the ground and sometimes get another flower come up in the autumn. Doesn't seem to work every year, depends on weather I suppose.

I trim off dead foliage in the autumn, but largely leave them alone really