I deadheaded the poppies a couple of days ago. It seems to have paid dividends because this morning there were fifteen poppies in a spot where we had never had more than six.
I thought of stopping to take a photograph, but bit was raining, I was in my shirt sleeves and the flowers were not very impressive, being weighed down by water droplets.
It sounds artistic now, and I’m starting to regret not taking the picture, but it was cold and wet this morning and enthusiasm was not running high as I left for work.
By the time I returned they had all dropped. They do that. It’s very annoying.
For those of you who aren’t conversant with deadheading it’s a way of manipulating nature with just a pair of scissors.
Plants flower, set seed and then close down as their job of perpetuating the species is over.
If you cut the dead flower heads off before they set seed they have to keep flowering to fulfill their biological imperative. Tricky, isn’t it?
It’s a bit like kids. Once you have a couple you can stop. And you still end up dried out and dead, just like a flower in Autumn.
I have to go now, I’ve just started on a meaningful poetic thought and it needs nurturing. It starts with raindrops and ends with scattered petals, and has haiku written all over it.
Poppies growing from cracks in concrete
I’m getting a lot of use out of very few poppy pictures. I’ll take some more pictures later in the week.
From poppies to marigolds. Onward, ho!
🙂
Those are beautiful poppy photos, Quercus!
Thank you Lavinia. Not quite as good as cats, but cheaper to feed. 🙂
Will we get to see the haiku?
I’m pondering.
Here are two links to my last two successful submissions. I don’t think I mentioned them. If I did, please accept my apologies.
http://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/pages151/Wilson_One.html
http://www.haibuntoday.com/ht132/H_Wilson_Monday.html
Beautiful poems, Quercus.
Thank you Derrick.
Dead heading is a constant chore at this time of the year.
It is if you do it right.
I, of course, do it irregularly and badly, but it is better than nothing. 🙂
“It’s a bit like kids. Once you have a couple you can stop. And you still end up dried out and dead, just like a flower in Autumn.” Ha! That’s hilarious.
And true. 🙂 Thank you.
I have 3 kids and they dried me out and killed me a little. But I’m not admitting it.
Two is plenty, three is heroic. I will always be glad I experienced the character-forming hell of parenthood, but I did like my old life too. 🙂
Dead heading poppies like those is one of the few genuinely rewarding activities that a man can do.
That is true. I am on marigold duty tomorrow. 🙂