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Hi I'm Daphne Richards and this is Oggie
Our plant this week is red corn poppy Papaver Rhoeas
also known as Flanders poppy
as you may know the fall's the season to plant wildflowers in Central Texas
and in many other parts of the nation and we're blessed to have several
wonderful sources for bulb wildflower seeds
making this an easy way to fill in large spaces
even on a budget if you're just starting out planting wildflowers may also give
you some time
to figure out a more permanent plan while still bringing beauty into the
yard
the striking red blumes of the corn poppy make a lovely combination with
yellow Columbine
a blue Larkspur and the leaves of poppies are very inconspicuous
leaving the most visual element those gorgeous blooms
plenty of room to shine the seed of corn poppies are easily saved for next season
giving you a continuous source without having to make a new purchase every year
being true annuals the plants will die back and need to be removed once the
flower's are all spent and you'll recognize when to do that when the plant
starts blooming
and the foliadge starts to yellow and the plants dry up or fall over
our question this week also involves wildflowers
and why they may not come up after planting outdoors one reason may be
that they were planted too deeply and easy way to gauge how deeply to plant
seeds
is seed size the smaller the seed
the more shallow it should be planted and corn poppy seeds are pretty tiny
which is why you'll see instructions on many wildflower seed packets to only
lightly scratch the seeds
into the soil not plant them in holes another reason for sparse wildflower coverage
might be an autumn rain shower which can wash the seed away
and also cover it with more soil leading back to our first issue
I planted lots of flowers from seed in my garden
when I moved to Austin in 2009 and in September of that year
I got over seven inches of rain in just one day needless to say
most of my seeds didn't come up and those that did
didn't end up where I planted them but maybe that was nature's way of making
me relax
about the perfect plan that I thought I had and loosen up to a more natural look
in my garden
the result was a course still quite beautiful. Our viewer picture this week
comes from Jean McWeeney who snapped this sweet little hummingbird
on her black and blue salvia thanks Jean! To do in your garden this week
if you have a lawn fertilize it with a 312
ratio fertilizer after the extreme summer heat
most lines are stressed and now as the temperatures are finally cooled down
turff has a short window to put on new growth which will help it survive the
inevitable stress of next summer
just a little nutrition now will help your lawn survive current
and even more restrictive watering restrictions even during a continued out
turf is much tougher than we give it credit for
and get easily survive long periods without extra water
with just a little help during cooler weather we'd love to hear from you so
please
visit us at KLRU.org/CTG
with your question and plants from your garden