By Chrisintoon
Tyne And Wear,
United Kingdom 
I recently bought six oriental poppies on a whim. Three are Royal Wedding and three are Beauty of Livermere. I have a large, roughly 1m diameter, pot for them which gets south and west facing sun. However it's next to a rather loose hedge which tends to let a lot of wind through. How wind resistant are these poppies? Do I need to think about putting them somewhere else?
Many thanks in advance for your help,
Chris in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
24 Jun, 2011
Answers
They are also rather messy and can flop if you get wind and rain at the wrong time (!). Good support is important in a windy place. Lovely though. I hope they give you many beautiful flowers.
24 Jun, 2011
Thanks for your useful (and very prompt!) advice. Just joined the site and it looks like a good one. I got the poppies from a money off deal from the Gardener's World mag and when they arrived I was a little disappointed to see that they were tiny! They are currently approx 7 cm in diameter so I've put them in small pots and I've planted my big pot up with an iris and some annuals.
I've seen online that these poppies grow quickly. Can I expect them to be of a decent size to go in the pot by next year? And if so, when would be the best time to plant them out, in Autumn/winter after the annuals have died or wait until Spring?
24 Jun, 2011
they will flower next year. I'd plant them out now as the roots will establish better and not get damaged later. however if you have the pot planted up now then the poppies need to be in at least 1/2litre sized pot and be prepared to repot again during the year when the roots get to the bottom.
I have always found the majority of GoY members very friendly and a mine of information.
24 Jun, 2011
If they are the same poppies that I received from Gardeners World magazine, mine were so small I had to put them in individual small pots first, which they are still in, as they have been very slow growing. I shan't put them into the garden until they are a bit bigger.
Have yours grown better ?
24 Jun, 2011
Ha ha my poppies sound just like yours! I almost laughed when I collected them from the post office. I'll keep an eye on them while they're in their current pots and repot when necessary. Thanks again everyone for your help. I'm sure I'll be here again, I doubt I'll be able to answer any questions but I'll certainly be asking them!
24 Jun, 2011
You carry on asking, Chrisintoon - and welcome to GoY. :-)
24 Jun, 2011
I grow these in an open bed in the garden and they cope, but in a year or two they will be very big plants and will out grow the pot. They are also plants that like quite a bit of feed so they will need plenty of foliar feed too.
lovely plants though and welcome to GoY
24 Jun, 2011