My learning objective for this quarter was to gain more hands on and theoretical botany experience with the flowers I working with and harvesting at Jello Mold Farm. To complete these objectives, I planned on observing and interacting with various plants grown as well as do more in-depth research from various botany textbooks. Each week I planned on synthesizing these experiences into a paper posted within my ePortfolio.
I feel as though I definitely met my learning objective. Things pretty much went according to plan; I stayed up to date on all of my weekly posts, focusing on Hellebores, Iceland Poppy, Pacific Rhododendron, Tulips, Lilac, Peonies, Flowering Dogwood, Clematis, Baptisia, and Sweet Peas. For the Rhododendron and Tulip weeks, I actually was able to go and experience first-hand these plants at Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens and Nursery and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival respectively. I also was able to talk with Doug Hock of Thistlehook Farm (Olympia, WA) about dogwood as well as Vivian Larson of Everyday Flowers (Stanwood, WA) about sweet peas to get a broader sense of how these farmers cultivate these specific crops and compare/contrast their methods to Diane’s of Jello Mold (Mount Vernon). Virtually every single crop profile that I showcased, I gained hands-on experience either through working at Jello Mold or through these “field trips” I went on/conversations I had.
I really liked the focus of botany, especially on the hellebore, peony, and dogwood posts. I think these were where I learned the most and came away with applicable knowledge on how to better understand how these plants grow. The only thing I wish I could’ve done differently was focus a little more time on the last three posts (clematis, baptisia, sweet pea). The grow season got immensely busy and I just ran out of time to be able to get those posts up to par with the others I did at the beginning of the season.
Harvest sweat peas when there are two open flower heads on a steam Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Family: Fabaceae (also in this family: all peas and beans including sweet pea, snap pea, green beans, peanuts, chickpea, as well as lupine, wisteria, mimosa, cercis, kudzu, scotch broom, etc.)
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Vicieae
Genus: Lathyrus
Scientific Name: Lathyrus odoratus
Sweet Peas are native to Sicily, Cyprus, southern Italy, and the Aegean Islands, meaning they thrive in mediterranean climates. This means they often wilt and slow flower production if in a climate where summers are scorching hot. These fragrant blooms are a garden staple all over the world though, being cultivated from the UK to the US to Pakistan.
Height/Spread: 3-6ft (climber so can get pretty out of control quickly without proper trellising)
Soil: Loamy soil with alkaline/basic soil pH
Site: Full sun with well draining soil. “Sweet peas are happiest with their heads in the sun and their roots deep in cool, moist soil. When possible, plant low-growing annuals in front of them to shade their roots (Old Farmer’s Almanac)
Type: annual climber
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
Harvest with at least two flowers in bloom on the stem. Cut stem as long as possible (follow as far back to main vine as possible. Especially later in the season, harvesting sweet peas (and tying them up for that matter) will require a ladder. In fact, the hoops pictured were built at that height to accommodate trellising sweet peas all the way to the ceiling.
Sweet Peas must be trellised and tied. These will grow all the way to the ceiling of the hoop and need a weekly corralling to ensure they have straight stems. Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists, Ross Bayton and Simon Maughan
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Family: Fabaceae (also in this family: all peas and beans including sweet pea, snap pea, green beans, peanuts, chickpea, as well as lupine, wisteria, mimosa, cercis, kudzu, scotch broom, etc.)
Genus: Baptisia
Scientific Name: Baptisia australis
Baptisia is native to central and northeastern North America and extremely common in the Midwest. In the wild, it is predominantly growing on the borders of forest, on the banks of rivers and streams, and in open meadows. It is a fairly hardy plant, capable of surviving drought and can be planted in clay or rocky soil. All parts of this plant, including seeds and seed pods, are toxic and should never be consumed.
Baptisia is best propagated by dividing the crown, similar to peonies, lupine, or iris. You can grow from seed, but it will take at least 3 years to establish (Baptisia australis – Plant Finder). To do asexual propagation, dig up the crown in the fall and divide. Should be able to tease apart fairly easily.
Fabaceae have pretty unique and easily recognized flowers and baptisia is no different. Pea family flowers are usually comprised of five generally fused sepals and five free petals. They are generally hermaphrodite, with a short and often cup-shaped hypanthium. Inside, there are normally ten stamens and one elongated superior ovary with a curved style. They are usually arranged in indeterminateinflorescences. Fabaceae are typically entomophilous plants, meaning they are pollinated via insects and thus appear very attractive to pollinators (Zomlefer).
Individual baptisia flower (very typical flower of the pea family) Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Site: Full sun to partial shade with dry to medium water needs
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
Baptisia is an extremely versatile cut flower, as it can be harvested as a cut flower in late spring, as foliage/fruit in the summer months, and as seed pods in the fall (Jello Mold) (Armitage & Laushman). For longest vase life when harvesting the flowers, cut when the bottom flowers are starting to open, but the upper buds still remain shut.
Harvest Baptisa at this stage: when bottom buds are starting to open but top buds still remain shut Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists, Ross Bayton and Simon Maughan
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Family: Ranunculaceae (also in this family: buttercup, ranunculus, anemone, nigella, delphinium, hellebore, columbine). Members of the family are primarily herbaceous perennials, but a few are woody climbers or shrubs. For the most part, flowers in this family will be bisexual. Flowers may be solitary, but are often clustered in cymes, panicles, or spikes. The flowers are typically radially symmetrical but are strongly bilaterally symmetrical in the genera Aconitum and Delphinium(Zomlefer).
Subfamily: Ranunculoideae
Tribe: Anemoneae
Genus: Clematis (over 300 species in this genus!)
Unharvestable stems of clematis because they were’t trellised properly and grew around each other rather than upward Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
The Clematis genus clearly has a wide variety of species comprised predominantly of vigorously climbing vines and lianas. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Species native to cooler temperate regions are generally deciduous while species native to warmer regions tend to be evergreen (Jello Mold Farm).
Trellising clematis properly is crucial to being able to use it as a cut flower. Without a way to grow upward, the stems will become a snarled mess. The vines will wrap around each other rather than upward, making it impossible to untangle and use the flowers. Trellising requires weekly tying up of new growth to ensure upward growth.
Trellising system at Jello Mold Farm Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
According to Michigan State University, “Clematis grow and bloom much better if they have a dormant period of approximately six weeks. Night temperatures of about 45°F (7.5°C) or colder for a week or more seems to put them into dormancy. Gardeners should be aware that most of the excellent books on Clematis originate in England, where climatic conditions are quite different from those in most of North America” (An Introduction to Clematis).
Right when Clematis buds begin to flower is the perfect stage to harvest them Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Bloom Time: variety dependent; some late spring others summer others yet fall
Bloom Size: 1-10in (variety dependent)
Height/Spread: 6-30ft (variety dependent)/spread variable based upon purpose; as a cut flower, want it to grow upward as much as possible
Soil: moist, well draining with a neutral to slightly alkaline pH
Site: most varieties require at least a half day of sun or strong filtered light to bloom well but will want shade for the hottest part of the day in warmer climates
Type: Woody vine
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
Clematis needs to be properly trellised and maintained to have harvestable stems, which takes a lot of time and labor. If you’re willing to make the investment, the return can be worth it. Jello Mold Farm can sell bunches of 5 for $25/bunch at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. Harvesting clematis can be a bit of a puzzle. Find a harvestable bud and follow the stem as far back as possible through the tangle of other stems. Cut when it can no longer be followed. You want to choose buds that are just beginning to open. Can also harvest seed pods after the petals have fallen off.
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists, Ross Bayton and Simon Maughan
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Family: Cornaceae (also in this family: all dogwood varieties, bunchberry, tupelo). Members of this family are predominately woody trees and shrubs, with a few herbaceous perennials. This is a cosmopolitan family, found on every continent except Antarctica. Generally they will have opposite or alternate simple leaves, and will have four- or five-parted flowers clustered in inflorescences or pseudanthia, and drupaceous fruits (Zomlefer). The Cornus genus is the most well known of this family especially in northern temperate regions (of the 80 Cornaceae species, half belong to the dogwood or Cornus genus).
Genus: Cornus
Scientific Name: Cornus florida
Flowering dogwood is a really interesting cut flower as what we perceive to be the flower head is really not at all. Dogwood flowers are pretty inconspicuous, with the bracts often mistaken as the petals. Instead, dogwood has multiple flowers clustered together in the center of the four bracts.
Flowering dogwood is native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. It rose in popularity as an ornamental tree in the 1730s due to its smaller size, colorful blooms, and curvy branches as well as because Thomas Jefferson began planting them at his home in Monticello, VA. Flowers can be red, pink, and white (Fast-Growing-Trees).
Bloom Size: individual flowers are about 1/4in long, but the entire flower head and bracts are about 3-4in
Height/Spread: 10-20ft/20ft (obviously would want to keep it a lot smaller to harvest as a cut flower)
Soil: cool, moist, acidic, well-draining with lots of organic matter
Site: Full sun promotes flowering but can tolerate partial shade, likes sloping sites
Type: Woody
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
Dogwood blooms just past peak (notice damage to bracts) Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
For best vase life with flowers, harvest right away when the bracts open up. This is well before the actual flowers start opening up to avoid any pest or sun damage to the bract as well as to ensure they will not fall off the flower head. You can also force blooming earlier that natural by cutting when buds are swollen. Put these stems in water at 65-70F with a hydrating solution. This can be done as early as mid-March, but will take 2-4 weeks for buds to open (Armitage & Laushman).
While flowering dogwood harvested in late spring to early summer is obviously beautiful and lucrative with the flowering branches, it isn’t the only time you can harvest dogwood. Summer offers a good green foliage and autumn offers wonderful colored leaves a red fruits (Armitage & Laushman).
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Family: Paeoniaceae (all peonies and peony trees are members of this family). All members of this family are deciduous perennial herbs or shrubs, with thick roots for nutrient storage and thin roots for water/mineral collection.
Genus: Paeonia (only genus in the Paeoniaceae family; scientists debate the actual number of species, ranging from 25-40 species total. As of right now the official number is 33) (Eastoe).
“The Parts of the Peony Flower” Photo: page 7 from Jane Easton’s Peonies: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden
Paeonia species are native to Asia, Europe, and western North America. They are beloved garden favorite in temperate climates all around the world for their beautiful and fragrant spring blooms. They come in purple, pink, red, white, and yellow hues. Peony flower types are wide-ranging, related to where that specific variety evolved. These types include “single,” “Anemone” (guard petals enclose petaloids), “Japanese” (guard petals enclose staminodes), “Semi-Double,” “Double,” and “Bomb.” The botanical composition of a peony is based upon the flower type (see figures above and below) (Eastoe).
Peonies can be grown from zone 3-8, with zones 4-6 allowing basically any variety and type to survive and thrive. For zone 3, the hardier and later blooming varieties are ideal but often end up producing just fine. In fact there is a thriving peony farming trade in Alaska (see Alaska Peony Cooperative)! For zones 7-8, use earlier blooming varieties and be sure to research the chilling requirements for the specific cultivars you choose. Most peonies need some sort of cold period to trigger their flowering, so make sure your climate can provide that for them (Byczynski).
Types of Peony Flowers Photo: page 8 from Jane Easton’s Peonies: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden
Bloom Size: individual flowers are 6–10 mm long and 5–8 mm across, clustered in a dense terminate panicle 3-7 in (8-18 cm) long
Height/Spread: .75-1.25ft (peony trees can be up to 11.5ft tall though)
Soil: loamy well draining soil, neutral pH
Site: partial to full sun (shadier site if in a hotter climate), pay special care to air flow as peonies are extremely susceptible to botrytis
Type: Peony=herbaceous perennial, Tree peony=woody
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
According to Doug Hock of Thistlehook Farms, peonies need to be dug up every 5-7 years (10 years is the absolute longest you can go without damage/death to the middle of the crown). The crowns can be teased apart if they split easily, or can be divided with a spade. Make sure to leave 3-4 eyes on each crown. Plant a foot apart in the fall. They will need some sort of netting or support to ensure the top-heavy blooms (especially the “double” and “bomb” varieties) don’t flop over. For the herbaceous perennial varieties, cut back any plant material at the end of the season to prevent the spread of botrytis.
Peony bud at the “marshmallow” phase: best to harvest at this stage when the bud is soft as a marshmallow but not yet actually open Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Put harvesting off for couple of years after planting to allow the peony to establish. Harvesting any flowers will impact rooting and the ability to store enough to overwinter. After those minimum three years, harvest peony flower buds at the “marshmallow” stage. Pinch the bud between two fingers to tell if it is as soft as a marshmallow. The bud will no longer be hard and there will be color exposed, but the bud will not be entirely open. This ensures a vase life of over one week. Can hold at this stage in a cooler for longer if need be.
Family: Oleaceae (also in this family: olive, ash, jasmine, forsythia). Members of this family are woodies, mainly trees and shrubs but also a couple lianas. Leaves in this family are characteristically opposite with alternating, whorling, or basal rarely observed. Flowers are bisexual and radically symmetrical, occurring in racemes or panicles, and often fragrant (Zomlefer).
Subfamily: No subfamilies for to Oleaceae family; instead divided into five tribes.
Tribe: Oleeae
Subtribe: Ligustrinae
Genus: Syringa
Scientific Name: Syringa vulgaris (common lilac)
Lilac growing at Jello Mold Farm Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Native to the Balkan Peninsula where they grow wild on rocky slopes, lilac has become incredibly popular in Europe and North America especially in colder-weather regions. Botanically speaking, what you’re harvesting from lilac shrubs are panicles or a branching cluster of flowers. For lilac, these flowers are densely arranged within the panicle. Each individual flower is tubularly shaped with an open four-lobed apex (Bennett) (Zomlefer). Lilac is predominantly lavender, mauve, and white in color. That being said, there are now cultivars that can be yellowish, reddish, and blueish in color (Bennett).
There are earlier blooming varieties, which can be extremely helpful to get lilac to market earlier than competitors. However these earlier cultivars can be extremely susceptible to late frosts. Unexpected cold snaps can leave frost damage on the buds that will make some if not all unharvestable depending upon the severity of the frost.
Early flowering white lilac variety: unharvestable because of frost damage Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Lilac at the perfect harvest stage, when 30-40% of the flower buds are open Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Zone: 3-9 (8/9 is pushing it and some varieties will not thrive in these warmer zone)
Bloom Time: Spring (April-early June)
Bloom Size: individual flowers are 6–10 mm long and 5–8 mm across, clustered in a dense terminate panicle 3-7 in (8-18 cm) long
Height/Spread: 5-15 ft/5-15 ft (will not get this big if using it for cutting purposes)
Soil: any soil type, neutral to slightly alkaline pH
Site: partial to full sun
Type: Woody
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
For longest vase life, harvest when 30-40% of the flower buds have started to open, but the upper ones still remain closed. Put stems into clean buckets with water only (no hydrating solution). Can cut an X on the end of the branch to ensure water is circulating if cut is on older, woodier stem. This X is not necessary if cut is on newer, greener stem. Should only harvest 10-20% of a given plant per year to avoid serious setback to the harvestability for the next season.
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists, Ross Bayton and Simon Maughan
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Family: Liliaceae (also in this family: lilies, trillium, star-of-Bethlehem). Members of this family are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous and often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair amount of form/structural diversity despite genetic similarity (Bayton & Maughan) (Zomlefer).
Tulips at Tulip Town in Mount Vernon, WA Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Tulips are an incredibly popular early spring flower, especially in the Pacific North West. The Skagit River Valley of western Washington state is the largest producer of tulips in the world, actually surpassing Dutch tulip production! The Dutch are very well known for tulip production in the past and present. The obvious example is the Tulip Mania of the 1630s, with the speculative bubble bursting in 1637. During this period, tulip bulbs were selling for astronomical sums of money, with the most expensive (known by its cultivar name “Viceroy”) selling for between 3,000-4,200 florins (size dependent). For comparison, a skilled craftsperson made roughly 300 florins annually! (Botany of Desire)
Michael Pollan, in his book-turned-documentary Botany of Desire, outlines four crops (apples, tulips, potatoes, and marijuana) and how they interact and evolve in conjunction with humans. Within the tulip section, Pollan breaks down how tulips captivate humans. “The tulip has merely done what any flower does:: evolve alongside a particular culture’s (or for that matter, animal’s) ideal of beauty. Embedded in the genes of every tulip is the blueprint for what will captivate a bumblebee or a hummingbird, a Dutchman or an Ottoman Turk” (Botany of Desire).
Native to the mountains of Central Asia, tulips were brought across Asia to Turkey to Europe by humans, slowly being selectively bred for various colors, sizes, and shapes.
Tulips are perennials; the bulb allows the plant to overwinter and bloom year to year. Most cut-flower growers however treat tulips as an annual as cutting the flower impacts the bloom quality. According to Mandy O’Shea of 3 Porch Farms, if you do want to keep tulip bulbs (or any bulbs for that matter) and have them bloom from year to year leave at least one leaf attached to the bulb. This will ensure the flower will bloom the next year otherwise, assuming it doesn’t rot, the bulb will produce leaves for the first year or two and only bloom in the third or fourth year.
Harvest flowers just as the tip of the bud begins to show color Photo: Kim Kuppenbender
Zone: 3-8, can be forced in areas above 8 by “wintering” bulbs in fridge or freezer before planting
Bloom Time: Spring (April-May)
Bloom Size: 3-5 in
Height/Spread: 12-30 in/12 in
Soil: sandy
Site: partial to full sun
Type: Bulb
Seed Type: Monocotyledon
For longest vase life, harvest when the tip of the tulip bud turns color but the rest of the bud is green. Can harvest tulip bulb and all for even longer storage life (they will keep in a cooler, bulb and all, with no water for up to one month). Digging up the bulb can also add to the stem length significantly, which is always valued by florists. Otherwise, can cut a base and strip foliage, putting stems in clean water with hydration solution or flower food. An old wives’ tale is to put a penny in the vase with tulips to avoid stem droopage. Can keep a week or longer.
Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists, Ross Bayton and Simon Maughan
Specialty Cut Flowers; The Production of Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Woody Plants for Fresh and Dried Cut Flowers, Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Botany of Desire (film adaptation based on Michael Pollan’s book of the same name), directed by Michael Schwarz (PBS)
Family: Ericaceae (also in this family: heather, heath, blueberry, cranberry, huckleberry, salal, azalea) This is the 14th most diverse family, including a wide range of flora morphologically speaking such as herbs, dwarf shrubs, shrubs, and trees (Bayton & Maughan).
With in the genus Rhododendron, there are over 1000 species ranging “from prostrate ground covers growing no more than a few inches high to trees more than 100 feet tall. Leaf sizes range from less than 1/4 inch to over three feet long, and they also appear in a variety of shapes:rounded, lance-shaped, and elliptical. The flowers may be white, red, pink, yellow, approximate blue, purple, magenta, orange, and shades and mixtures of most of these colors. There is diversity, too, in bark texture and color. And while March, April, and May represent the peak months for flowering, some rhododendrons can flower as early as January in an ideal climate and others as late as August. The actual beauty of many is supreme–in flower, in decorative new growth, in foliage, in bark, in structure, and even in fall color, particularly with deciduous azaleas” (Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden).
Pacific Rhododendrons (Rhododendron macrophyllum) are native to the Pacific Northwest, namely along the northern California coast through the Oregon coast (but mainly south of the Siuslaw River) and around the Salish Sea in Washington and British Columbia, Canada. They are mainly west of the Cascades and east of the Olympic Mountains, but there have been some documented anomalies to that range. They are generally found in disturbed areas, either road embankments or recently deforested wetlands. They can also live in higher elevations in the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. Their leaves are evergreen; they retain them for 2-3 years. They are generally 3–9 in long and 1–3 in broad. Their flowers are generally a pale to more vibrant pink color and are made up of a five-lobed corolla.
Flower bud surrounded by evergreen leaves which drop every 2-3 years Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Site: partial shade to full sun, well-draining soil of average moisture, prefers disturbed sites
Type: Woody
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
Right as the flower begins to break bud Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
According to Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm, rhododendrons can be a bit tricky as a cut flower. She hasn’t grown them as a field crop and says they can be a bit finicky and may work a lot better in a more permaculture/polyculture setting. If you did want to grow them in the field, they would definitely require shade cloth and a long while to establish. That being said, there is a certain type of florist that would pay top dollar for these woodies, especially an earlier flowering variety as people are dying for color in the early spring. Harvest when the flower just starts to break bud into clean buckets with hydrating solution. Cut an X on the end of the branch to ensure water is circulating.
SOURCES:
Jello Mold Farm (Mount Vernon, WA)
Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens and Nursery (Whidbey Island, WA)
Family: Papaveraceae (also in this family: opium poppy, California poppy, tree poppy, bleeding heart). In the order Ranunculales (meaning Papaveraceae is closely related to Ranunculaceae), Papaveraceae is considered to be cosmopolitan, although very few species found in the tropics. Members of this family are predominantly herbaceous, although there are a few small shrub and tree outliers.
Genus: Papaver (the 80 species in this genus are considered the “true poppies”)
Scientific Name: Papaver nudicaule
Iceland Poppies harvested at Jello Mold Farm Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Iceland Poppies are native to the Arctic region of North America and Eurasia. Iceland poppies, like all poppies, possess exceedingly minute seeds and long taproots that resent disturbance. In cool summer climates on well-drained soils, Iceland poppies can live 2-3 seasons, flowering from early spring to fall. Thus they are a hardy but short lived herbaceous perennial and can often treated as a biennial in gardens with the right conditions. Otherwise, they can be grown pretty much anywhere as an annual as they will not survive hot summers. (Iceland Poppy – Papaver nudicaule).
These flowers are composed of a single flower head that have four tissue paper like petals, with a center of many stamens. There are no leaves on the wiry, hairy stems; instead the leaves are basally arranged around where they stem pokes out of the ground (Iceland Poppy – Papaver nudicaule).
Iceland Poppies growing at Jello Mold Farm Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Bloom Time: early spring to fall, weather/temperature dependent
Bloom Size: 2-4 in
Height: Up to 24 in
Soil: Needs loose soil and prefers neutral or alkaline soils to acidic.
Site: Full sun, well-draining soil of average moisture
Type: Biannual
Seed Type: Dicotyledon
For best vase life:
Perfect harvest stage for Iceland Poppies: when the bud has cracked and you can see a bit of color Photo: Allie Kuppenbender
Harvest when the buds first crack and the color is just barely present into clean 1/2 gallon buckets and never reuse buckets as Iceland Poppies (and all poppies really) ooze a milky white latex substance that leaves the water murky. These delicate blooms don’t have too terribly long of a vase life, but can keep up to one week by daily changing the water. If transporting these blooms without water, burn the stems. This will ensure they do not ooze the latex.
