Q. How do I save poppy seeds from my oriental poppy?

A. Once the poppy pods turn brown, you can harvest the seeds. The seeds are small, but germinate pretty easily. When the poppy pod is ripe, the top opens up like a pepper shaker. If you let the poppy seeds drop on their own, some might grow near the parent poppies.

Annual poppies will seed readily into the garden. Here is a picture of Bread Seed Poppy in various stages of ripeness.

Q. Is it too late to plant _________?

A. Probably not. Most perennials (and that includes trees and shrubs) can be planted whenever the ground isn’t frozen. I once planted an entire new garden on November 1 and all but one plant made it through the winter.  Planting in late summer or early fall  is a good time to plant because the nights are cooler, it’s easier to keep new transplants from wilting and suffering, and they still have plenty of time to establish before winter.

Q. What is that black stuff you have under plants in the greenhouses and the nursery? I want to use that in my garden!

A. The black stuff is called Weed Barrier ™ or landscape fabric. It’s very useful in certain situations.  It keeps the weeds down in the nursery and the greenhouses, but it isn’t useful for the average homeowner unless you want to look at the black fabric in your garden.  Most people think they’ll put the landscape fabric down and cover it with gravel mulch or bark mulch to make it more attractive, but as soon as you do that, you’ve negated the good effects of the landscape fabric. Weeds will come up through the fabric if you put any type of mulch on top of it, plus weed seeds will germinate in mulch above the fabric.  I’m working on an article about the best ways to mulch in the garden, hopefully it will be done before next spring!

Q. Do hummingbirds only like red flowers.

A. No. They will go to almost any color flower, but they do seem to go to red ones first! And, a follow-up answer–Bees are more attracted to blue flowers. Bees love catmint! Butterflies seem to be colorblind, hanging out first on pink flowers, then blue, then yellow.