And Just Like That, It Was Over ...

 My annual spring love affair with the poppies has ended as it usually does, with my yanking them up and consigning them to the compost. 



Look at the difference in the number of blooms compared to my last post!
Notice the manky foliage!

They've struggled valiantly to hang on despite too little water and too much heat.  But there's just no denying that the poppies are sloppy.

That's a mighty big pile of poppies you have there, ma'am.
Most years, I'm obsessive about letting the poppies languish in their mankiness until the seed pods begin to rattle, signaling that they're ready to cut and collect.  Most years, I cut off each and every seed pod and save them for the next year.  This is not most years.  Between the seeds that fell before or during the harvesting process, and the seeds that I scattered last winter in various beds, I was positively overrun by poppies this year.  I spent nearly two days thinning out the seedlings in the corner bed to give the plants more room to grow, and they were still too crowded.  So I have been positively merciless in my poppy removal process the last few days, consigning the majority of the pods and stalks to the trash can.  My ever helpful garbage guys dumped five 32-gallon trash cans full of poppies into the compactor and just like that, they were gone.

Comments

That is a lot of poppies!
Gail said…
Some plants just don't look their best after they bloom!
LindaCTG said…
Whoa, I can't believe yours are already over! But mine are on the way out; such fleeting romance. I certainly understand that some years you just wanna get that stuff out of there. You'll have enough seeds for next year.
Cindy, MCOK said…
I think the poppies pooped out earlier this year due to unseasonably warm temperatures and no rain in weeks. I've tagged most of the red poppies and left them standing since they're harder to come by and seem to have a lower germination rate than the pink.
Rose said…
So sad to see the poppies go, but I'm sure you'll have an equally impressive show next year, Cindy!

I was skimming through some earlier posts I missed here and saw the note that a passerby left you. What a thoughtful gesture on her part, and it's wonderful to know that your hard work is appreciated. We sometimes don't realize how gardens can affect others as well as ourselves.
Wow, I guess that's the way to go when you're run over by poppies. They were lovely though. Mine never came up this year but I think that may be because I messed the garden up putting a tree in. Oh, I do have one poppy coming up in my raised bed, but I don't remember planting it!
sweetbay said…
They sure were beautiful while they lasted!