Poppies Offer Numerous Design Options If you are looking for a way to add flower power to your garden on a budget, then buy poppy seeds.
Although there are many ways to change the look of your garden, poppies are wonderfully versatile and fairly inexpensive to start.
The huge variety of colors, bloom sizes, heights and ability to thrive in all kinds of different environments allow for a complete change of look and feel of your garden.
Whether you opt for perennial species which return year after year, or annual varieties, when you buy poppy seeds you get great value for your money.
Some poppies have pastel pink and blues which can be mixed with pale lavender, white, and creams to create that dreamy quality which suggests peace.
But if you want an explosive riot of vivid color, you'll want to choose Iceland or California poppies.
There is such a great range of planting options, that you can find the perfect mix of plants and seeds for moist, dry, shady, sunny, or soil in any other environment.
Alpine poppies and California poppies (both annual varieties) are great for containers, flowerboxes, or tubs.
They will brighten decks and patios and are easy to care for, creating a blast of color to please the eye and soothe the soul.
Another focal point can be created by using poppies in hanging baskets (keep them moist though).
And since annuals tend to produce so many seeds, there will be a continuous supply of new plants to use in any way you see fit.
Speaking of new plants, annuals are prolific seed producers.
If the pods are allowed to stay on the stalk till fully ripe, they will fall off onto the ground where they will over winter and germinate the next spring.
The small plants can then be transplanted if desired.
Alternatively, you can capture the ripe seeds in a paper bag or envelope and store over the winter and plant in the spring in a different location.
When these beloved annuals are interspersed with perennial varieties like dwarf, alpine or Oriental poppies, they give the garden the ideal mix of variety and grow healthier and stronger mature plants with great bloom quality.
A good choice for borders is any of the Oriental type poppies.
They die back in winter, but are reborn in the spring and shoot up to produce large blooms in brilliant colors of red, orange, lavender, white and more.
For rock gardening or in gravel areas where you want a low, ground hugging plant, you'll want to choose little alpine poppy seeds which grow plants only a few inches tall, but produce beautiful radiant blooms.
So no matter how you decide to add flower power to your garden, poppies are ideal, and won't upset your budget.
And you don't have to wait years to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Plants such as the oriental varieties take several seasons to mature and produce the blooms you desire, but the annuals will bloom the first season.
Also poppies are such great self seeders, so you will have a continuous supply of plants.
Whether you decide on borders, rock gardens, or fields of flowers, buy poppy seeds and you will see your passion for poppies develop into the love of a lifetime.
So with that said...