Everyday care methods, blooming time, and symbolic meanings of the corn poppy

Today let's talk about the flower with a special meaning, the "corn poppy." It is also known as the "dancing girl" of the Papaveraceae family. Its flower colors are rich, and its petals have an elegant crinkled texture, like gentle gauze fabric. Its flower language is comfort, obedience, forgetting, and remembrance, and it is often used to express nostalgia for the beautiful times of the past or grief for the deceased.

Corn poppies bought on the market are generally divided into fresh cut flowers and potted plants. For fresh cut flowers, the vase life is about 10 days. The unopened flower shape looks like a green fuzzy egg and is wrinkled. Although it has an ugly outer shell, it looks very beautiful after the flower blooms. First, check the flower branch to see whether the flower bud has a broken neck. Then, before hydrating the flowers, cut the base diagonally by 1-2 cm and scald the base in hot water for 20 seconds. After that, cut off the base portion that changed color from scalding, and then hydrate the flowers for three hours. Finally, after hydrating, remove the leaves from the flower branch one by one, keeping only 1~2 leaves for ornamental effect, and place it in a vase you like. Later, when you see the water is low, just add water directly, or change the water if it becomes cloudy. In addition, during care, if a flower bud refuses to open for a long time, in this case you can use scissors to make a cut at the top of the flower, then tear open the outer green covering. Doing this can help it open.

For home care of potted corn poppies, choose soil rich in organic matter with good drainage, and the placement location is best in a spot with sufficient sunlight. It has relatively strong adaptability to temperature, being both cold-tolerant and slightly heat-tolerant, with a growing temperature of 15-20°C. During the flowering period, you can apply a moderate amount of fertilizer mainly containing phosphorus and potassium, which can speed up flower bud differentiation and blooming as well as extend the flowering period. In addition, after the previous flowering period ends, the faded flowers need to be cut off in time so that more nutrients flow to the new flower buds.

Finally, common pests and diseases of corn poppies generally include aphids and thrips. Pest and disease outbreaks mostly occur after heavy rain, so in March you can sprinkle a little Xiaobaiyao as a preventive measure, letting the "poisonous insects" die on their own after eating it. In addition, you can also use dish soap or spray pesticide onto the leaves to wash the leaves, in order to prevent the disease from occurring.