gardening blog
oIf you have these plants in your garden you might be wondering what you are supposed to do with them. Are they weeds? How did they get there?
The short answer is yes, they are weeds and they have a knack of self-seeding everywhere. Their Latin name is Meconopsis cambrica but they are commonly known as Welsh poppy. Most of them here in Bolton, Lancashire, seem to be orange in colour but a few are yellow. Although they are a wild species of plant growing in the UK, they are also considered ‘garden escapes’. Some people are quite happy having these growing in their garden; in fact, I am letting a few grow in mine, particularly the yellow ones which I prefer. The problem with Welsh poppies is that if you don’t remove the heads straight after a bloom has finished, they will ripen & scatter their numerous, tiny seeds everywhere – into cracks in paving or right into the middle of one of your favourite shrubs or perennials given half a chance! They also have a robust tap-root system so once they’re established they are actually quite hard to get out. If you do want to remove them, you need to dig out the whole root; like other tough plants (such as dandelions) this is almost impossible if they are growing between your paving slabs and suchlike. When this happens you may need to be content with simply chopping off as much of the plant as you can see. So yes, they are a weed, if the definition of a weed is a plant growing somewhere you don’t want it to. However, if you like Welsh poppies and are content to let them cohabit your borders where you can enjoy their cheerfulness, then let them be – maybe just keep them in check and only let them grow where you want them to grow.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi, I'm Jo. This is where I'll be posting my observations about my gardening life and gardening advice. Please enyoy! And if there's anything you would like to ask me about gardening I will try to answer your questions. Archives
March 2021
Categories |