Bee Friendly Poppies - Boosting the Bloom!

 This time of year our garden fills with the buzzing of honey bees. Both our neighbor and I have a bee hive on our properties. One of the things I like to do it make sure that they are provided with a wide range of foods and plenty of it as well.

 Obviously, not all pollinators are honey bees. There are loads of others as well that are around our garden, but the honey bees have taken very fondly to one particular type of poppy that we have been growing for years.

A recently cut bed of Papaver Rupifragum (Spanish Poppies) after deadhead removal.

 

 This particular type of poppy I believe is called a "Papaver Rupifragum" or the "Spanish Poppy". They aren't native to the UK unfortunately, however, they don't appear to be on any invasive species list, so I've tended to let them get on with it in this bed in our garden. Seeds appear to be able to be bought very reasonably priced and easily as well.

Anyway. The main reason I love them is the huge amount of pollen they produce for pollinating insects. A single flower is packed full of the pollen and the bees absolutely love it. I often see bees leaving the flowers with huge packs of pollen on their legs.

A bee making the most of the huge amount of pollen in these poppies.

 The other benefit of these poppies are the longevity of flowering. We get huge swathes of flowers weeks and weeks on end so long as we dead head them after each flowering. They are thriving in the sandy soil where we live and have done well in hot weather with little water. This makes sense of course considering their origin.

 What I like to do to aid in their constant blooming though is make sure I both A) Deadhead and B) Feed the plants!

 Each flower the plant produces requires a portion of energy and nutrients. I make sure to water with a dissolvable plant food after every couple of dead headings and I will frequently be cutting 100 or so dead heads off every 3/4 days. Once watered with the plant food, I quickly go over with just pure water to make sure none of the food is left on the petals / leaves of the plants.

 When it comes to deadheading, I find it best to cut off dead heads before the flower petals have fully dropped. That way you know the plant has wasted little energy creating seeds. If you miss the first stages of the flower dying, then catching the heads as soon as possible after is always beneficial.

The first sign of a pollinated head, ready to begin producing seeds. Note the petals dropping and the lack of pollen stems.

A seed pod just forming after loosing it's petals.

 Deadheading is easily done. Just grab the top of the seed pod, then pull it gently to show you which stem it is attached to. Then, find the lower part of the stem and remove with a pair of sharp clean scissors. If you don't mind the mess of having the stems still in place, just snip the seed pod off at the top.

Cut the stems with sharp scissors or secateurs

 For anyone that has a sandy soil garden, these poppies flourish and will continue to produce flowers right through summer. Providing them with good quality plant food or a mulch of some type significantly boosts bloom numbers and the ability for the plant to keep producing wave after wave of flowers. A great value plant in my opinion, and one the pollinators love as well.