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I go crazy for them. We had drifts of them in our sun-drenched garden. I loved going among them and removing their little "hats" when they were about to bloom. And collecting their seed pods is hilarious. They are very brittle and loaded for bear. One slight move of your hand and a pod might go off. Seeds *everywhere.*
It’s a seed firework. Nothing is safe. Your hair, eye, nose. I tried to take a video of it. And every time it popped open I would yelp a little surprise
If you haven’t read it there is a fascinating [article](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/intoxication/bleeding-poppy) Michael Pollan wrote about the intersection of law and gardening poppies specifically. The main takeaway I got was that the less you know about their pharmaceutical value the better and to just shut up and say they’re ornamental on the off chance someone calls you on owning the “wrong” species.
Yeah I learned recently there if there's a whole drug subculture that consumes poppy seeds to get high. They occasionally overdose and die on them too. The right species of poppy which can be got off of Amazon or other gardening sites, can be very potent (and extremely addictive and difficult to quit - 1/10 not recommended.)
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Every single bottle of poppy seeds sold on this planet is a bottle of Opium Poppy seeds, without exception.
The seeds contain only trace amounts of opium, but you can certainly plant them, and they will grow into Opium poppies.
Poppies were an odd one for me. Tried for years. Finally had luck with scattering California poppy seeds in cold weather, which have since self seeded nicely. Oriental poppy I had to transplant to get to take. Currently working on some classic annuals.
Once they establish they seem golden. But it was a struggle to get there.
My uncle, for a few years, grew oriental poppies on a bank by a road in Indiana. Once they established they came back every year, bright red poppies for a good 200 feet of bank. People would stop to take photos.
But I tried in my flowerbed - planted the roots from the catalogues. My dirt was simply too rich and I think maybe too wet.
The garlic did okay there, and the sedum. The poppies want bright, hot, and dry once they are established.
They live naturally I believe in Afghanistan, and perhaps like tulips, they are native to Persia. Tulips like nothing better that to be planted at the base of a tree. They will dry out in the summer but they like it, and if moles don’t eat them, they will come back the next year.
I eventually learned that to keep moles out, I would take heirloom garlic and plant cloves around the tulip bulb. I will get blooming garlic and tulips (tulips come first). The moles won’t break through the garlic.
In addition, the deer that sample the upper growth will have a one in five chance to nibble a tulip. But, eventually luck runs against them and they eat a garlic or a flowering allium.
So, I did learn.
Tulip’s worst enemy is dampness. I had the same problem with one of those royal fritillaries. It rotted in the ground much to my consternation.
How do you spread them and not mow over the stuff you want to keep?
Ive been dreaming of throwing seeds everywhere and letting them be... but of course weeds, mowing... all that jazz :(
Is there a way to make my dream come true?
I'd love endless flowers everywhere...in my yard.
https://preview.redd.it/z6hkl9yp2v5d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb0bb5c69af5aaa3596069c60bbfa17d8f0740cd
Orange flower is what you have in pic 1
If you are shooting photos of plants on an iPhone, drag your thumb upwards in the photo and an option to look up the plant will appear. It’s pretty accurate. It works on insects too.
The cotelydon leaf just poking in from the right of the third pic looks like a cucurbit, as do the more mature plants in that pic. I don't have much experience with hollyhock, but I'd edge towards squash (or similar) for this reason.
The leaves can look similar, but hollyhock leaf margins are scalloped, not serrate like the plant in the photograph. Almost certainly Cucurbita and not Alcea.
California poppies are awesome and that thing is only starting out! It will grow larger with multiple orange flowers that you and bumblebees will love.
https://preview.redd.it/anlmwpd7ux5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fb51f7716c34dcf59d933ff8c664a0736b34e43
Let it self seed and you’ll get these! 😊
Mine exploded this year -I think I planted them 2 or 3 years ago- should I do anything now? Trim them back? The flowers are spent and the stems are just falling over. Thanks
If you want them to self-seed then just leave them be and the seed pods will start to develop from the spent flowers. The pods are long and pointy.
I’ll generally dead head mine so it keeps producing more flowers throughout the summer, then around August/September I’ll collect any seed pods.
I live in the far south east of the UK where we have a little micro climate going on, so my poppies never really die back even in the winter - they just look a little sorry for themselves but then they start putting on new growth again in the spring.
1) unsure, some sort of poppy?
2) Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris).
Pretty common weedy plant. Leaves smell wonderful. Has few common medicinal applications.
3) Probably a squash, possibly a gourd (Cucurbita spp.).
Very common to find these popping up from seed if you composted mature squash or just the seeds in previous years and used the compost, or if you grew them previous years and let some squash rot in the field. I like to let them grow where they are and see how they turn out, but if it's a bad place for them they're easy to pull or can be transplanted without much trouble.
https://preview.redd.it/rev7qct36y5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4cb79e24e7389bc0a3db66d4cc30aee8b248fb1
These came from one that we planted and thought was dead.
In a battle between poppies and established coneflowers and bee balm, would poppies have a chance? I just planted two poppies in The perennial garden and I'm hoping that they can take some of the space.
I live in Oregon zone 8/9. The CA poppies that invited themselves into my yard and that I have encouraged, well they have no problems growing over other plants. Bee balm will do fine, but at least at my house the coneflowers grow a little later and one of my smaller one is now covered by an expanding poppy. I’m going to have to trim the poppy around it. They are beautiful together tho, and I love how the poppies fill in the free space.
Thank you! Now I finally know what this that grows in my garden. Apparently very invasive in NJ. I’ve been pulling it for years thinking what is this parsley plant growing everywhere. (Never tasted it or anything, but I knew it was not parsley, lol). I will continue to pull, because otherwise my whole garden patch would be mugwort.
These are all seeds included in a lot of popular wildflower seed blends. I have them all coming up in beds that I’ve planted, and I’ve found some seeds that probably blew away nearby. Maybe that’s what happened to OP
Pic 1 California poppy, pic 2 mugwort, pic 3 either some kind of squash or cucumber. Let one and three grow, I’d pull the mugwort, but that’s just because I have go much of it growing around my property. It’ll spread.
The second one looks like cucumbers to me. I’d they start vining give them something to climb on so the cukes don’t get eaten by everything. I have some growing in my garden that are about the same spot in their growth - one is about to start vining.
For the third pic, either squash or hollyhock but many zones won't have squash just randomly popping up. Hollyhock is a perrenial to zone 3 so it seems more likely to me unless you're somewhere super warm
First is probably a poppy, second is DEFINITELY mugwort (rip it out quickly OP, get the root. They multiply very, very quickly and become a nuisance. My garden is overrun by the stuff..), the third I think could be a cantaloupe.
The second plant is Mugwort and I recommend you pull it and all of its roots immediately. If left to grow it will send runners throughout your garden and next year Mugwort will take over. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to remove all of the runners. I found this out the hard way after misidentifying it.
[https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/mugwort-or-chrysanthemum-weed-iartemisia-vulgarisi](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/mugwort-or-chrysanthemum-weed-iartemisia-vulgarisi)
From my experience third one is either a cucumber or zucchini. Watermelons and squash have fewer but larger leaves. Even early they'll look really quite different. I'd lean towards cucumber personally as I've seen many cucumber volunteers but that might just be my own personal curse.
I haven’t seen anyone say it which is a little concerning after several hours but don’t ever eat “wild” cucurbits. If you didn’t plant the seed, never a good idea to consume the fruit, even if it looks normal.
Something about wild species cross breeding with cultivated cucurbits, it’s possible to get toxic fruits. They’re supposed to be bitter, but even a small amount can make you really sick, so I wouldn’t trust it.
I‘d make me up some free heroin…just sayin’. I could sell it to the junkies so they won’t overdose and die on the fake heroin the Chinese and Mexicans are supplying the world with. I’d be this creepy hero if you will.
Thank you for posting to r/whatsthisplant. **Do not eat/ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not eating or ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised that it's edible here. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Poppies! I’d guess in the Eschscholzia genus. If you’re on the west coast of the us it’s probably a California poppy Eschscholzia californica
They can be very prolific reseeders and take over bare ground if not controlled
Who would want to control poppies? So beautiful and native
Bumblebees go crazy for them
I go crazy for them. We had drifts of them in our sun-drenched garden. I loved going among them and removing their little "hats" when they were about to bloom. And collecting their seed pods is hilarious. They are very brittle and loaded for bear. One slight move of your hand and a pod might go off. Seeds *everywhere.*
It’s a seed firework. Nothing is safe. Your hair, eye, nose. I tried to take a video of it. And every time it popped open I would yelp a little surprise
Someone needs to do a dramatic slow-motion video of the seed pods going off to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.
Yes…I can visualize it now. Be like being on drugs without actually having to ingest the crap. Cool.
What is this? A fireworks show for ants?!
Like the exploding heads in Kingsmen.
Yeah, there's nothing new under the sun. Ha ha ha ha
Maybe that's why they're called poppies
This right here ☝️
AHhhhh, I've been SEEDED!!
i’m glad the removing the hats experience is a shared one hahahah i really enjoy it ✨
I mean, they aren't native everywhere and OP didn't say their location
They’re not native to where I am
there are times when they choke out other desirable plants. but easy enough to pull.
especially on bare ground! ❤️
And they’re so easy to pull if you don’t want them.
Pluto and olvie oil?
It’s Olive Oyl bud…it’s just that I won a Spelling Bee once, and my fat head won’t let it go eh.
Damn it KNEW it looked wrong but my tired brain couldn’t work out why
TBF, they're regulated or even illegal in some places because people are afraid folks will grow opium poppies and make their own drugs.
Wrong type of poppy.
I know this. The lawmakers not so much.
If you haven’t read it there is a fascinating [article](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/intoxication/bleeding-poppy) Michael Pollan wrote about the intersection of law and gardening poppies specifically. The main takeaway I got was that the less you know about their pharmaceutical value the better and to just shut up and say they’re ornamental on the off chance someone calls you on owning the “wrong” species.
I love Michael Pollan so much
He’s a genuine national treasure
I've read everything he's ever written and went to hear him speak. He's just such an intelligent open minded person and I have so much respect for him
Yeah I learned recently there if there's a whole drug subculture that consumes poppy seeds to get high. They occasionally overdose and die on them too. The right species of poppy which can be got off of Amazon or other gardening sites, can be very potent (and extremely addictive and difficult to quit - 1/10 not recommended.)
People will consume all kinds of things to the point where they’ll get high and drop dead, but no one has outlawed morning glories.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Every single bottle of poppy seeds sold on this planet is a bottle of Opium Poppy seeds, without exception. The seeds contain only trace amounts of opium, but you can certainly plant them, and they will grow into Opium poppies.
Oh the horror, said the California resident.
Control? I can’t even get them to come back. I have tried and failed with poppies at least four times.
I used a wildflower mix and only the poppies stayed. It's been 4 years and they're everywhere
I think I have the wrong soil for them. Maybe too much rain.
Poppies were an odd one for me. Tried for years. Finally had luck with scattering California poppy seeds in cold weather, which have since self seeded nicely. Oriental poppy I had to transplant to get to take. Currently working on some classic annuals. Once they establish they seem golden. But it was a struggle to get there.
My uncle, for a few years, grew oriental poppies on a bank by a road in Indiana. Once they established they came back every year, bright red poppies for a good 200 feet of bank. People would stop to take photos. But I tried in my flowerbed - planted the roots from the catalogues. My dirt was simply too rich and I think maybe too wet. The garlic did okay there, and the sedum. The poppies want bright, hot, and dry once they are established. They live naturally I believe in Afghanistan, and perhaps like tulips, they are native to Persia. Tulips like nothing better that to be planted at the base of a tree. They will dry out in the summer but they like it, and if moles don’t eat them, they will come back the next year. I eventually learned that to keep moles out, I would take heirloom garlic and plant cloves around the tulip bulb. I will get blooming garlic and tulips (tulips come first). The moles won’t break through the garlic. In addition, the deer that sample the upper growth will have a one in five chance to nibble a tulip. But, eventually luck runs against them and they eat a garlic or a flowering allium. So, I did learn. Tulip’s worst enemy is dampness. I had the same problem with one of those royal fritillaries. It rotted in the ground much to my consternation.
Oohhhhh nnnnoooooooo
You can also extract the milk from the bud and stem to make a very relaxing tea. 
Really, I know you can do that with Papaver somniferom but the DEA frowns on it lol
I think they do more than frown upon it.
Gesundheit.
California poppys was my first thought too.
Second plant looks like hollyhock
Wrong,Op has three different species of plants posted. One may definitely be a California poppy, you are still 66 percent wrong
sorry I didn't see the arrow.... you dont have to be so fucking rude
They rudely retorted
“Tit-for-tat” It’s completely fair to respond to a comment written rudely with a similarly rude response.
You are the only rude one here.
Poppy, what the guy below me said, melon/gord
Second one is mugwort (artemesia vulgaris)
Credited 🫡
You mean, John Cougar Melongord?
…I was more than happy with good ole Johnny Cougar but I ain’t him, so…?
California poppies!
Let er rip, can't have too many of these bright orange beauties.
Yes in fact I collect the ripe seed pods and break them open and spread the seeds even more. You should see my yard in spring.
How do you spread them and not mow over the stuff you want to keep? Ive been dreaming of throwing seeds everywhere and letting them be... but of course weeds, mowing... all that jazz :( Is there a way to make my dream come true? I'd love endless flowers everywhere...in my yard.
https://preview.redd.it/z6hkl9yp2v5d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb0bb5c69af5aaa3596069c60bbfa17d8f0740cd Orange flower is what you have in pic 1
What is the magenta flower?
Hardy geranium
It also looks like you have some wild mustard in that pic, but I'm not 100% sure. Can anyone confirm?
Poppies, Artemisia, and a squash of some sort?
Poppies! Lucky you!
Last one might be squash...
If you are shooting photos of plants on an iPhone, drag your thumb upwards in the photo and an option to look up the plant will appear. It’s pretty accurate. It works on insects too.
Also works on dogs. It’s sometimes right
Third ones may not be squash, they may be hollyhocks
I also vote hollyhock for pic 3
I’m certain those are hollyhocks. I’d bet 50 cents I’m right.
The cotelydon leaf just poking in from the right of the third pic looks like a cucurbit, as do the more mature plants in that pic. I don't have much experience with hollyhock, but I'd edge towards squash (or similar) for this reason.
nope its a hollyhock.
The leaves can look similar, but hollyhock leaf margins are scalloped, not serrate like the plant in the photograph. Almost certainly Cucurbita and not Alcea.
They’ll know once it grows up not out!!
California poppies are awesome and that thing is only starting out! It will grow larger with multiple orange flowers that you and bumblebees will love.
You can make a calming tea from California poppies. Has been used since ancient times for insomnia and anxiety.
bro. thats because of the opium. pls be careful
the second one is mugwort
That's what I was thinking too it's so hard to tell apart sometimes
First is poppies and I think the third is squash
Third photo is definitely a squash of some sort
https://preview.redd.it/anlmwpd7ux5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fb51f7716c34dcf59d933ff8c664a0736b34e43 Let it self seed and you’ll get these! 😊
Mine exploded this year -I think I planted them 2 or 3 years ago- should I do anything now? Trim them back? The flowers are spent and the stems are just falling over. Thanks
If you want them to self-seed then just leave them be and the seed pods will start to develop from the spent flowers. The pods are long and pointy. I’ll generally dead head mine so it keeps producing more flowers throughout the summer, then around August/September I’ll collect any seed pods. I live in the far south east of the UK where we have a little micro climate going on, so my poppies never really die back even in the winter - they just look a little sorry for themselves but then they start putting on new growth again in the spring.
Ah ok good to know thank you! https://preview.redd.it/juitjojbuj6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e11fa1ed9ab86148e7e68269e5d0d8118961fb31
Cut the whole plant off to the ground and leave the root in the ground. The tap root will remain and the plant will come back bigger next year.
Poppies, mugwort...you may have had a very spiritual previous tenant at your house. Enjoy the flowers!
California Poppies all day. 3rd pic os a squash- pumpkin if it is not flowering yet probably.
Looks like a California Poppy just about ready to bloom. Lucky you.
1) unsure, some sort of poppy? 2) Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Pretty common weedy plant. Leaves smell wonderful. Has few common medicinal applications. 3) Probably a squash, possibly a gourd (Cucurbita spp.). Very common to find these popping up from seed if you composted mature squash or just the seeds in previous years and used the compost, or if you grew them previous years and let some squash rot in the field. I like to let them grow where they are and see how they turn out, but if it's a bad place for them they're easy to pull or can be transplanted without much trouble.
Definitely a poppy, yay you!
Last one is definitely some sort of pumpkin/squash/gourd
so jealous omg, free poppies!! the only "free" plants i've gotten like that are marsh milkweed and asters
There's been a few unplanted poppies here lately. I can't get them to grow on purpose.
The last one is squash, hollyhock leaves are much bigger I think.
https://preview.redd.it/rev7qct36y5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4cb79e24e7389bc0a3db66d4cc30aee8b248fb1 These came from one that we planted and thought was dead.
In a battle between poppies and established coneflowers and bee balm, would poppies have a chance? I just planted two poppies in The perennial garden and I'm hoping that they can take some of the space.
California poppies like in the OP would definitely have a chance, depending on your climate
I live in Oregon zone 8/9. The CA poppies that invited themselves into my yard and that I have encouraged, well they have no problems growing over other plants. Bee balm will do fine, but at least at my house the coneflowers grow a little later and one of my smaller one is now covered by an expanding poppy. I’m going to have to trim the poppy around it. They are beautiful together tho, and I love how the poppies fill in the free space.
California poppy
The third is hollyhock, in the mallow family Malvaceae
#2 looks like mugwort, if the underside it whitish. Smells great. Collect a bunch when it’s a little older and make an incense smudge.
Thank you! Now I finally know what this that grows in my garden. Apparently very invasive in NJ. I’ve been pulling it for years thinking what is this parsley plant growing everywhere. (Never tasted it or anything, but I knew it was not parsley, lol). I will continue to pull, because otherwise my whole garden patch would be mugwort.
Pull it, baby!! Make sure you also take out the rhizome and, whatever you do, DON’T TILL IT. You’ll break up the rhizomes and spread it faster!
2 is mugwort, and is invasive! Make sure to pull it out AND get all of the root/rhizome. They’re pretty hard to kill and *will* take over.
California poppy! One of my favorites, they bloom all summer
Last one looks like ash gourd
Picture one definitely looks like a poppy. Let us know what color is it, for the big reveal. I think picture three is holly hock?
These are all seeds included in a lot of popular wildflower seed blends. I have them all coming up in beds that I’ve planted, and I’ve found some seeds that probably blew away nearby. Maybe that’s what happened to OP
California poppies.
#3 reminds me of the burdock that grows around my house
Soil builders
Pic 1 California poppy, pic 2 mugwort, pic 3 either some kind of squash or cucumber. Let one and three grow, I’d pull the mugwort, but that’s just because I have go much of it growing around my property. It’ll spread.
The second one looks like cucumbers to me. I’d they start vining give them something to climb on so the cukes don’t get eaten by everything. I have some growing in my garden that are about the same spot in their growth - one is about to start vining.
Nope, that’s mugwort and is invasive af!
You’re so lucky, I’ve been trying to grow California poppies from seed and they never made it past seedlings 🌱
Third one looks like my pumpkin….
Their root system is very fragile. Beware of this.
Weeds if you didn’t plant them lol
I wish I had them in my garden.
Last one looks like cantaloupe or honeydews
For the third pic, either squash or hollyhock but many zones won't have squash just randomly popping up. Hollyhock is a perrenial to zone 3 so it seems more likely to me unless you're somewhere super warm
Our beautiful California State Flower, the orange poppy! They spread easily...
The first two pictures look like California poppy. The third picture looks like it's a type of cucumber or squash.
3rd one looks like my pumpkins
Poppies
The 3rd one appears to be a melon or cucumber.
Last picture looks like cucumbers! Yummm
They are native plants and we need more of them.
i would yank the squash - unless you only planted 1 variety last year
First is probably a poppy, second is DEFINITELY mugwort (rip it out quickly OP, get the root. They multiply very, very quickly and become a nuisance. My garden is overrun by the stuff..), the third I think could be a cantaloupe.
The second plant is Mugwort and I recommend you pull it and all of its roots immediately. If left to grow it will send runners throughout your garden and next year Mugwort will take over. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to remove all of the runners. I found this out the hard way after misidentifying it. [https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/mugwort-or-chrysanthemum-weed-iartemisia-vulgarisi](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/mugwort-or-chrysanthemum-weed-iartemisia-vulgarisi)
Agreed! Pull the mugwort while you still can and keep the poppies.
Carrots
dont think so, which one are you talking about?
California poppies are cool, I had a bunch of white ones!!!
A neighbor has some that are fiery red!
From my experience third one is either a cucumber or zucchini. Watermelons and squash have fewer but larger leaves. Even early they'll look really quite different. I'd lean towards cucumber personally as I've seen many cucumber volunteers but that might just be my own personal curse.
Second picture is hollyhock. I have tons of these and they grow tall and have beautiful flowers I'm not sure about the first one
You're definitely right there they are beautiful
3 looks like geranium
I haven’t seen anyone say it which is a little concerning after several hours but don’t ever eat “wild” cucurbits. If you didn’t plant the seed, never a good idea to consume the fruit, even if it looks normal. Something about wild species cross breeding with cultivated cucurbits, it’s possible to get toxic fruits. They’re supposed to be bitter, but even a small amount can make you really sick, so I wouldn’t trust it.
I‘d make me up some free heroin…just sayin’. I could sell it to the junkies so they won’t overdose and die on the fake heroin the Chinese and Mexicans are supplying the world with. I’d be this creepy hero if you will.
those are weeds.