Lauren's Grape Poppy....simply stunning

There is a legend that renowned Colorado garden writer Lauren Springer sowed some poppy seeds from a bagel and discovered this unique variety. In reality, this experienced horticulturist spent years culling the seeds from the rich purple poppies growing in her garden, knowing gardeners would appreciate the superb beauty of this stunning variety.

I've been growing Lauren's grape poppies for six years, and save seeds as in the photo above. Then I just toss them in my garden plot in the month of April. Bees love them and lots of petite dark seeds for rolls. 

This is what my poppies will look like in July.

The magnificent flowers last a couple of days. The sea green foliage is attractive. I just realized I never blogged about these beauties. I adore them and look forward to their blooms in July.

This is a winning poppy if you love to feed pollinators as well as yourself.

You're probably thinking....why is she showing us a milk jug :-)

  This winter, I made "greenhouses" to plant seeds. Have you heard of winter and spring sowing?  I know some of you might because we met on the Garden Web at one time. I learned about Winter Sowing from the NY Times many years ago, did it a few years and now am getting back into it. I keep a list of the seeds that I planted in the winter, and labeled all the jugs. I just checked on the jugs (tucked away in the backyard) to see if there were any green sprouts, and was delighted to see that the lupines have sprouted. I keep the lids on until I am ready to transplant in May/June/July.    

Yesterday I planted tomato seeds in the milk jugs (Early Spring Sowing 1 to 2 months before last frost). This group includes tender annuals including flowers and vegetables that do not require stratification and need consistent warmth.

If you decide to try this, just Google "winter sowing" and a plethora of information will come up. I'm always up for a challenge so this is my winter activity when it comes to gardening. 

xo

Deb