No, it’s not a recipe, even though it sounds like it should be.
These beautiful flowers are growing in our garden, but I never planted them. They appeared as if by magic when we cleared the area for our garden near our house. When they first appeared, I decided to allow them to grow because the flowers were so pretty, but they were growing in a less than desirable location – right in the middle of my vegetable garden. I kept trying to work around them, but more often than not the early growth fell victim to my weeding even when I tried to be careful around them.
For a few years I thought I’d manage the flowers growing location by gathering the seeds as they dried and then spreading the seeds to areas where I’d love to see these flowers bloom every year. But due to some miscommunication between my husband and I, the areas I chose to grow new flowers were also the areas where my husband was clearing for other projects. I planted seeds, he cleared the area. I chose a new location, I planted seeds, he cleared the area. Year after year I planted and he cleared. And my poppy population dropped.
This year, we haven’t been able to do a lot of outside yard work. There’s a moth that lives in our area, and when it’s in caterpillar form, it sheds hairs that cause a rash on those of us who are sensitive. I’m sensitive (as is my husband, and at least 3 of our five children who live at home). We’ve been spending a lot of time inside because of this moth, and my garden beds are looking rather sad and forlorn.
While I was able to plant a few vegetables early this spring, I haven’t been able to care for my garden beds since then. But now, because I haven’t been weeding around the vegetables, my pretty pink poppies are thriving. They’ve pretty much taken over one of my raised beds, and I won’t even complain about it. I hope to be able to collect the seeds from some of them, but I’ll be sure to leave some to spread on their own just in case my seeding efforts aren’t successful. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy these beautiful blooms.