Anna and I have quite literally waited all summer for one of these to appear in the "Lower Paddock". I can't even remember now whether there were actually any Poppy seeds included in the packet of wild flower seeds I sprinkled on the bare earth in March, but even if there weren't any Poppy seeds in that mix, we were expecting Poppies to appear anyway - the pioneer species of bare or turned-over ground that they usually are.
Well, this morning, one, just one had appeared. So I got its photo.
Our lonely Poppy seems to be doing its job of attracting tiny mining bees with its pollen (it has no nectar). When the rich, red petals disappear, (as they probably will on Monday afternoon, looking at yet another rain-filled weather forecast), the seed capsule will stick around, often becoming an over wintering home for these small bees - a good enough reason not to get rid of the bare Poppies during the autumn.
I hope we get more than one!
1 comment:
Get yourself down the bakery for some poppy seed bagels. Better still, buy a packet of those multi-seed rolls with the poppy seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds on them, and bury it (you might want to take the plastic wrapping off first). And hey presto! An instant flower garden.
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