Poppies

[grannie39]

Can I chop my Poppies down now, they are taking up a lot of room and the leaves are spreading all over, in fact they are flat to the ground. if I do will they flower again next year.? and also do blue geraniums flower twice a year ?
many thanks.

[Kathy46]

Poppies are annuals, save the seeds and pull them up. Scatter the seeds where you want them to flower next year. Dead head the geraniums and they should flower again.

[muff13]

Not all poppies are annuals but I am not sure what you mean by chopping them down? Do you mean to just cut the old flowering head off or to cut back the leaves as well. Can't think that cutting the leaves is a good idea as they should provide food for the next years flowering.

[rowanwitch]

perennial poppies: Remove flower heads when you can shake the seeds out and sprinkle around the rest of the garden,,, leave the leaves to die back for as long as possible if there is space in front of them plant a late flowering perennial like Japanese anemone or rudbeckia to hide them.
The blue geraniums will only flower once I clipped mine over with shears once the flowers finish leaving a neat clump of new growth at the bottom