TOP OF THE POPPIES!
These beauties will self-sow, giving you free f lowers all summer long
AHEAD of showrooms re-opening on April 12, Swedish electric car maker Polestar has delivered 325 boxes of food — enough to provide 10,000 meals — to those in need during the pandemic.
The boxes were sent out to and filled by j journalists, celebrities, including Dynasty actress Emma Samms, and the public after the firm launched a #NoWasteofSpace lockdown campaign while its new Manchester showroom stood idle.
The Polestar Manchester Space in the city’s Trafford Centre is a modern ‘nohassle, no-pressure’ alternative to traditional car showrooms with staff who are not on commission. Inspired by footballer Marcus Rashford’s Feeding Britain’s Children documentary, Polestar Manchester is delivering the boxes to local Fareshare UK foodbank hubs for wider distribution.
THIS week’s mini-heatwave gave us a floral bonanza. Narcissus are still good, tulips are budding and blossoming trees throw petal confetti like wedding guests. Enjoy the show, but don’t let it delay your summer planting. Currently, I’m working with poppies. Nothing beats their cheerful June colour, so I’ve been transplanting crowded poppy seedlings.
These are self- sown annuals which appeared last autumn. Poppy seeds also germinate in spring. So you need to sow those now for this summer.
Oriental poppies are early summer perennials. Their huge scarlet-orange, crimson or pink flowers appear from late May.
For acid soils, there are Himalayan poppies. Easiest among those, Meconopsis betonicifolia has kingfisher blue flowers on tall stems.
Whatever the variety, poppies are special. Even our native scarlet field poppy looks lovely on a road verge or among ripening wheat.
ADORABLE ANNUALS
SEVERAL wild species grow in Britain but the showiest is Papaver rhoeas, the common field poppy.
For gardens, field poppies come in pinks, lemon and dusky greys or whites. There are doubles, too, and bicolour flowers with contrasting petal edges.
The other widespread annual group is opium poppies, P. somniferum. These have grey-green, hairless foliage and flowers in more sombre colours.
Seed selections for poppies are widely available. Sarah Raven ( sarahraven. com) offers a lovely field poppy mix called Mother of Pearl. There are fine opium varieties too such as Black Beauty and Black Swan.
EASY PERENNIALS
ORIENTAL poppies are sunloving, easy perennials. Their flowers can be orange- scarlet, crimson, pink or mauve.
Our native yellow Welsh poppy, Meconopsis cambrica, enjoys shade. North African Papaver rupifragum is a clump-former with vivid tangerine flowers on long, thin stems.
Aristocratic true-blue poppies come from the Himalayas. Easiest to grow, Meconopsis betonicifolia, has delicate blue flowers.
Stately, deep blue M. grandis has been crossed with M. betonicifolia to produce hybrids such as Branklyn and Slieve Donard. They need cool, sheltered conditions.
That’s why my favourites are wild red field poppies and their garden cousins, the Shirley poppies. They ask for nothing, but give so much.
EASTER is a gardener’s busiest weekend. But, it should be enjoyable as well as productive. Plan your work but keep it flexible, in case of difficult weather. If your ground is dry enough, prepare it for seed-sowing or for planting. It’s too early for tender plants to be outside but you can sow hardy annuals now. Vegetables such as salad crops, carrots, peas, onions and brassicas can all be started off now.
Summer bulbs such as gladiolus (pictured), should be planted this weekend. Make sure they’re in freedraining soil, in a sunny position.
Garden centres will be crowded for the next few days. But they’ll be wellstocked for weeks to come. So a shopping visit after Easter might be less frantic. You can also order summer plants online now.
Do not plant anything tender outside yet. Non-hardy summer plants will not be safe in the UK before mid-May. Even then, have horticultural fleece handy, in case frost is forecast.