Pressed Poppies

A garden is a fantasy land for children, running and hiding amongst all the foliage and color, screaming and laughing, playing til exhaustion like any child should.  Another fun way to show and include them in the magic and creativity that can come from plants is something as simple as taking interesting seed heads that can be used as stamps. By taking a number of different dried flower heads for size, we used dried Poppy heads, specifically Papaver commutatum and P. sommniferum, and then mixed them with watercolors (used thickly).  The designs can be used for a number of things. Cards were made using a play on flower motifs, from garden, to cut bouquet, to vase which were soon sent off by mail to friends. An activity like this is one more way to engage children in the beauty of the garden. May induce fits of giggles….  – James

the stages of a bouquet

 

Collecting Annual and Biennial Seeds

Nigella damascena

Whether you’re seeking seeds to gift or preserve for perpetuity, midsummer is an excellent time to note any ripening seed capsules ready for harvesting. It’s often too easy to be caught unaware when the seed capsules have dispersed their contents, leaving none to collect as insurance shall the seedlings fail to germinate the following spring. Endless rain can cause the seed crop to fail as mold can quickly destroy seed viability. The easiest, if not laziest method of harvesting involves pulling out the dried remains (stems, roots, and all) and placing them upside-down in brown paper bags. The bags should be placed someplace dry and cool, out of reach from rodents. In most cases, the seed capsules will naturally dehisce, spilling their contents into the bag with minimal fuss and cleaning.

Now is a good time (early July for those in the mid-Atlantic US region and mid to late July for those in the cooler northern areas)  to harvest the following:

Poppies (Papaver somniferum, Papaver rhoeas, Papaver commutatum), Love-in-the-mist (Nigella damascena and N. hispanica), umbellifers (Angelica, Daucus carota, Orlaya grandiflora), catchfly (Silene armeria), larkspur (Consolida ajacis)