My first “official” landrace project to track here is going to be a diverse Breadseed Poppy population. Why poppies? First, I already enjoy growing them. In addition to providing a valuable ingredient for baked goods and such, they’re also aesthetically pleasing, which means I can grow them without much concern in my HOA-managed neighborhood. I also have plenty of pollinators in my garden during peak poppy bloom time, so I expect I’ll have some quite enthusiastic poppy-crossing assistants to make the project easier!
My goals for the project:
– Heavy seed production in very large, closed pods
– Darker, more diverse colors than the usual pale white-pink-lavender-purple-blue
– Doubled, deeply ruffled, and frilly blooms included in the population
– Low-to-No Maintenance… Drought/heat/extremes/neglect tolerant!
To this end, I’m starting with a decently diverse mix of breadseed and a few colorful non-breadseed poppies:
Hungarian Blue Breadseed, pinky-purple to purple flowers with blue seeds (Baker Creek and box store purchased seed packet, current stock is saved seed)
Giant Rattle Breadseed, pale-pink-lavender flowers with dark seeds, (Baker Creek)
Ziar’s Breadseed Poppy, coral-and-lavender flowers with gray-blue seeds (Fruition Seeds)
Elka White Breadseed Poppy, white-pink-purple with white seeds (multiple sources)
Black Beauty poppy, dark red-purple almost black non-breadseed variety (saved seed)
Black Swan poppy, also almost black, but with frilly/cut-edged double flowers (saved seed, original source unknown)
Black Peony poppy?, also almost black but with deeply ruffled double flowers (saved seed may accidentally be mixed in Black Beauty packet, oops?)
And I’m considering adding in some or all of these from Baker Creek:
Purple Peony (to get more of the deeply ruffled double blooms, and another mid-pale purple)
Frosted Salmon (again, ruffled double blooms)
Crimson Feathers (it’s deep RED! And FRILLY! and very much a doubled bloom)
Florist Pepperbox (also a rich red, but a more traditional looking poppy)
I already have my existing seed ready to go in starter soil in milk jugs for VERY careful transplant in early spring (I’ve done this before with success, but it’s a tedious process!) so I should probably make some decisions about any additions while I still have enough cold weather left!
A great project. I only grow one poppy, Papaver rhoeas, as it’s an all-rounder, edible seeds and leaves. I haven’t eaten any yet. I want it to naturalise if possible.
If only self-seeding wouldn’t be against the point of this project for me!
If I had more space, I’d love to grow P. rhoeas for that reason alone (not much maintenance if they naturalize!)… Baker Creek has one that’s gorgeous shades of gray!
I look forward to the updates. This is the first year I will be growing breadseed poppies. I never thought of growing them. I grew a bunch of California poppies this year. They actually germinated and grew after multiple seasons of throwing seed out.
I learned they are not edible, so I looked up which poppy seeds are edible. I bought a couple packs and plan on throwing them out as well. It seems I will be growing along side you so to speak.
Do breadseed poppies cross pollinate with California poppies? I haven’t looked into that yet.
Hungarian Blue Breadseed Poppy
Giant Rattle Poppy
Ziar’s Breadseed Poppy
Elka White Breadseed Poppy
Peshwar White Breadseed Poppy
Zahir Poppy
Black Beauty/Black Swan Poppy (ornamental)
Black, Cream, Purple, Salmon, and Pale Rose Peony Poppy (ornamentals)
And no surprise, when I mentioned this project to my youngest, he asked if we can grow sesame so I can make our own homemade everything bagel seasoning (since we already grow our own onions and garlics). So now I have another project to research…
Everything Bagel Seasoning is the best. I hope your project succeeds just for that.
Experimental Farm Network and Fruition usually have sesame, or at least that’s where I’ve gotten them in the past. I’d love for mine to germinate this year - it would probably require a much less wet and cold year than last year. Here’s hoping!
I also have some poppy varieties that my hubs has been wanting to grow, but none of them germinated last year. Any tips for more consistent poppy germination?
Poppies need a cold spell to germinate. It’s easiest to throw the seed down in place in the late fall or very, VERY early spring, so they have time to get chilled and even lightly frozen.
Generally, poppies don’t transplant well. BUT I’ve had some success winter-sowing them in a mix of seed starter soil and perlite several inches deep, generally in water/milk jugs cut mostly in half to function as greenhouses. They’ll need to be drilled with holes for drainage and set out in Jan/Feb. The trick is, you have to get the sprouts transplanted super early, without disturbing their roots much if at all. And there will be some losses, because again… they don’t like being transplanted. But if you want to get some established, that’s a possibility.
If we get enough melt off this week I’ll toss some down, otherwise I’ll dig down a bit to the soil and spread them. I know hubs would appreciate his breadseeds actually flowering this year. We also have a really floofy gray variety, might be the same one you mentioned from Baker Creek. I also have a Black Peony poppy that I’d love to see bloom.
We also have a really floofy gray variety, might be the same one you mentioned from Baker Creek. I also have a Black Peony poppy that I’d love to see bloom.