Salable Plants from Cold Frames – Hollyhock, Canterbury Bells, Oriental Poppies

Hollyhock

In July, sow this favorite for background plantings about M inch deep in the cold frame. Pot up the plants the following spring and grow on in the frame or in a cool greenhouse.

There are singles as well as doubles with colors from purest white through lemon yellow, apricot, pink, and into dark red. If you find something especially desirable among your seedlings, you can propagate it by root division in the fall, since seedlings do not usually come true to color. If rust infects plants, clear it up with a sulphur dust.

Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium)

Canterbury Bells are biennials, producing foliage growth the first year and flowers the second. Many gardeners like to purchase these as year-old plants which will flower the same season they are planted, so you will find a ready market for them.

Sow seed directly in the frame and grow plants on there until the following March, when they should be potted up in equal parts of loam, peat moss, and leaf mold and grown on in the cool greenhouse.

To avoid rot, be sure the soil is porous and well drained.

Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale)

A wide floral color range-from flashy hues to pastels-is offered by the Oriental poppy, a fine subject for both spring and fall sales. Plants can be grown from division to maturity in the cold frame. Popular varieties include White Splendor, pink Spring Morn, salmon-pink Perfection, deep red Claret, and pastel Raspberry Queen.

While they can also be started from seed, you will get better varieties more rapidly if you purchase some choice large plants and divide them for your stock. When you plant, dig holes about 3 inches deeper than the length of the roots. Hold plants in the hole so roots are upright with crowns about 3 inches below ground level. Fill in soil up to the crown’s level. Water well and then you can forget the plants until green leaves appear in fall. The larger the division, the sooner it will flower. Plant an 8-inch division in the fall and it will bloom the following spring.

You can also propagate these poppies from root cuttings which form leaves at the upper ends and roots at the lower ends. So save all the root trimmings (at least 3 inches long) from the divisions. They’ll produce small plants which you can also sell, though at a lower price than the big grown-on divisions.

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