SEEDS COMING IN –– for 2023

Seed capsules from
Louise's wild perennial Sweet Peas,
(Lathyrus latifolius)
Gatehouse Species Rose hips full of seeds,
Rosa glauca, and 
Stems of Angel's long-lived 
Crocosmia "Lucifer" seed pods.
Thank you everyone for this
Shaw Island harvest
Coming in for winter.
20 August 2022.

"We are living in a time of unrest and worry, but the same crocus will grow near the Black Sea as grows in Spain, and these flowers don't need passports and frontiers. The seed is beyond frontiers and beyond nationalities, and the growing of things and tilling the earth is one of the most international, one of the most unpolitical things we can possibly do. Don't ever forget that the seed is the most important thing in the whole world."  Clare Leighton, garden writer, 1948.

 Freshly harvested perennial
 Sweet Pea seeds
(Lathyrus latifolius)
A wildflower still growing on Shaw Island,
Just barely.
Thanks, Louise. 

To view our first post on the wild perennial sweet peas offered at the Shaw Island Gatehouse in 2014, here is a link

"FIREWORKS FROM THE FOURTH" :::::::::: RED POPPIES

 

"Fireworks from the Fourth"
Papaver somniferum
a.k.a. "Breadseed poppy."
Click the image to enlarge.
Seeds were lightly broadcast in the 
garden in the cold winter of 2021-'22.
Then, here they came, 
blooming at the Gatehouse garden,
in time for the Fourth of July parade,
July of 2022.
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island, WA. 
Thank you, Nancy, for this heirloom  
iron artifact from your family farm.
It has settled in happily to a life of
light duty in this garden.

Papaver somniferum
("Fireworks from the Fourth")
Capsules of ripening seeds,
Gatehouse garden,
Shaw Island, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Click this image to enlarge.
Ripened seeds are now 
available at the Gatehouse shed.

"Breadseed poppies"
(Papaver somniferum)
Red, Red, Red
with shimmering, silky petals. 

A fresh crop of organic seeds,
 available while they last 
at Gatehouse Seeds,
USDA Zone 8-b.
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Shaw Island nickname: "Fireworks from the Fourth"

Botanical name: Papaver somniferum

Plant type: Hardy annual.

Flowers: late spring to early summer.

Foliage: broad lettuce-like leaves.

Height: 24"-36"

Position: Full sun for best flowering.

Attracts: Pollinator bees and butterflies but NOT deer.

Sowing: Direct broadcasting, thinly, in late winter, where they are to grow.

Roots are very sensitive; the seedlings do not transplant well.

Soil: fertile/well-draining. Enrich with manure, compost, or organic fertilizer rich in Nitrogen in the beginning. At 8 weeks, fertilize with high Phosphorus for flowering.

Notes: Will readily self-seed. If for some strange reason that is not desired, deadhead the pods before they ripen.

There are many cultivars, all of which grow well from seed. If they are nearby others of the same genus, the original colours will be crossed by the pollinators and your colors will be muddled.

This firecracker red is the only somniferum growing at the Gatehouse garden, so it should ring true.

Uses: pods are beautiful in flower arrangements. Flowers suited for cottage and informal gardens.

Origin: According to Seedaholic (U.K.) the poppy was cultivated in Europe since the Neolithic era, thousands of years ago. Probably one of the earliest plants cultivated in that region.