chris pp Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 I don't think wild poppy seeds ever get too old, they hang around for hundreds of years lying dormant until they get scuffed just under the surface or brought up nearer the surface. I suppose that there has been a steady reduction actually growing in wheat fields due to herbicides, corn cockle's the same.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 So they grow in disturbed earth, hence the huge numbers on WW1 battlefields, so if the soil isn't occasionally rumpled they won't grow. Or is that hideously simplistic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 No Dick, I think you're right on the whole, but then why do they self seed so well on verges here? Brilliant pictures, Peter,and Twinkle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Perhaps the soil is disturbed by small, scratchy rodent-type animals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Like this? [IMG]http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/twinm/miki.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 Well I find it disturbing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 They grow on the verges as a result of the machinery used for the cutting which is just a "little bit" rougher than a lawn mower and ditching work and it is exactly why the WW1 fields were covered in them as a result of the continual shelling. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 That must upset the rodents, too!So presumably it becomes quite a sterile environment for small animals, but popular with birds like robins and field sparrows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patmobile Posted April 29, 2006 Share Posted April 29, 2006 [quote user="Will "]Don't wish to be awkward, Patrick, but that was Pete Seeger not Bob Dylan [:P] Don't you just love a pedant?[/quote]You're probably right - but how am I supposed to remember? It was the sixties, right?Peace & love, manPatrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 I'll try to get this old thread back on track by saying that there are a lot more poppies this year (coquelicots) than the last two years in my area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 They were certainly very late last year, but they did come eventually. This year? I saw my first a week ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 I saw my first ones at Carcassonne on the 27th March! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 [quote user="TWINKLE"]I'll try to get this old thread back on track by saying that there are a lot more poppies this year (coquelicots) than the last two years in my area.[/quote]They've been blooming like crazy in our garden for the last week or so (we are very selective in our weeding). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreizeVents Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 There have been loads of poppies around backwoods Herault. Less herbicide. Old-fashioned ways. But of course you all know that the poppy was the symbol of the campaign of Jose Bove, for reasons outlined already on this thread. A healthy agriculture produces poppies all over the place. So fragile, yet they survive. It is impossible to see a field of poppies and not smile. Everyone loves poppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 they're in my garden damn things - I'll send you some !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thibault Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 A few years ago near Lewes, a farmer stopped using herbicides and his wheat field was a mass of poppies. People came from all over the place to see and photograph them, so many in fact, that there were quite a few traffic problems. Unfortunately that seemed to put the farmer off, and we have never seen poppies in that particular field since.At the moment, the ox-eye daisies are blooming all along the main roads, especially in the central reservation. They are a beautiful sight and hopefully the silly ******* who "mow" the verges and central reservations will not cut them down until they have had a chance to seed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Fields full of poppies around us this year which seem to be following the fields full of dandelions, both look wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tag Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Maybe we might ask our communes to leave the cutting of some verges until a bit later in order to let the flowers display and drop seed. That is of course where there there are no road safety issues involved. I've asked mine and they are not unreceptive to the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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