Native Plants

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Sunday - June 08, 2014

From: Round Rock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Red poppies to bloom in November from Round Rock TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi, I want to plant poppy seed so that they bloom in November for Veterans and Remembrance Day. Can you offer any guidance? Thanks!

ANSWER:

As we are sure we have mentioned before, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants, is dedicated to the growth, propagation and protection of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which those plants grow natively; in your case, Williamson Co., TX.

We began by going to these sources to learn about the Veteran's Day (It was called Armistice Day until the middle of World War II) Poppy. Veteran's Day commemorates the Armistice which was decreed for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when World War I was officially over.

From the website The Great War 1914-1918

White Flower Farms - Papavera orientale

American Meadows The Red Poppy

We hope you read all of these sources because they are very interesting.The one problem (and an insoluble one) is that no annual, which the poppy is, is going to be blooming in November in France or Central Texas or anywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere. Sorry, it was a lovely idea.

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