Why no poppies this year?

[topmatt]

Hi! Last year our cottage garden meadow had loads of red poppies - which we expected would self seed for this year too.

However, this year we have plenty of daisies (see pictures) but no poppies.

So, I’m wondering why the poppies haven’t come back?

[Steve Pollard]

topmatt - The poppy is an annual plant of arable land, and requires a certain amount of soil disturbance to allow the seeds to germinate each year. Oxeye daisies are perennial grassland plants and do not require any such disturbance, as they survive from year to year.

[topmatt]

Thank you Steve.

[Amy]

Loads of really useful information on the associated Moor Meadows website:
in particular -
how to create a new meadow "I want poppies, cornflowers and corncockles
https://moormeadows.org.uk/information/ ... ew-meadow/

and the charity Plantlife's website - the Wildflower garden section plant selector:
https://plantlife.love-wildflowers.org. ... wer_garden

and - the common poppy:
https://plantlife.love-wildflowers.org. ... mmon_poppy

and a Warning Shot from Plantlife's important campaign leaflet
Keeping the Wild in Wild Flowers download which I commend to you as a very interesting read;
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/our-wor ... -questions

I'll quote the section re poppies:

There are often more colourful mixtures which are desirable for a garden or urban setting but which contain species that never occur naturally together in the wild. Mixtures of cornfield flowers (often labelled incorrectly as a “wildflower meadow mixture”) for example, almost always contain common poppy, corn marigold, corn cockle, cornflower and corn (or Austrian) chamomile. These are fitting in urban or garden settings, where they benefit pollinators and can be a joy to behold. However, we should avoid sowing them in the countryside as part of a conservation measure as this combination of species doesn’t occur naturally in any habitat in Britain."