Survival Garden Seeds offers three varieties of native California poppies (yellow, orange, and deep red), as well as more exotic, red Oriental and Flanders poppies. Our poppies are packed in a beautiful paper packet with instructions for successful growing and germination in your home garden.
Growing Poppy Seeds in Your Garden
- Can be grown as perennials or self-seeding annuals
- 5 poppy seed varieties to choose from
- Cool season color for the garden
- Poppy flowers symbolize remembrance, fertility, and health
INTRODUCING POPPY SEEDS
The poppy seeds' blooming season stretches from late spring to early summer. Their flowers showcase hues from gentle white to vibrant orange and deep red. Depending on the species and climate zone, they grow as annuals, perennials, or biennials. Poppies often reseed themselves, providing continual growth year after year.
Poppy flowers offer a rich palette of colors. They are native to North Africa, Europe, and Asia, even the Arctic and Subarctic zones, adapting well to a wide range of climates. Poppies thrive in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 10.
PLANTING POPPY FLOWERS
For best results, poppy seeds for planting should be sown directly onto the soil. Because they need exposure to light to germinate, spreading them on the soil's surface is advised. Late fall or early spring (prior to the last frost date) is the ideal time to sow. Due to their small size, a good suggestion is to mix them with sand for an even distribution. The soil needs to be moist for successful germination.
If the seeds are started indoors, a stratification process is necessary before planting the seedlings in the garden. This implies exposing them to the cold and moisture for several days to a month. The seeds will germinate faster, and plants will be stronger this way.
When seedlings reach a few inches in height, thin them to a spacing of six inches. Perennials will naturally expand their growth the following year, while annuals are known to self-seed, which requires periodic thinning.
MAINTAINING POPPY PLANTS
Some varieties prefer rich soil, full of organic matter. Such is the Oriental Poppy. Others, like the California Poppy, can thrive even in the desert and don’t need much to survive.
Poppy plants prefer full sunlight, but some can tolerate a partial shade. They do, however, require at least six hours of sun per day. Finding the ideal spot in the garden will contribute to healthy blooming and growth throughout the season.
The flowering season for poppies is brief, lasting around four weeks. Gardeners can extend the display period by combining with other plants that bloom in summer with poppies that bloom in the cooler weather of spring and fall. This can help maintain a continuous aesthetic appeal in your garden space.
