Making a Sacrifice to the Garden Gods

Every year I tell myself I am not going to have floppy poppies. But then time gets away from me, and before you know it, they are flowering like mad, but also falling all over everything around them, like a Victorian lady with a bad case of the vapors.

From this side of the bed they don't look bad

They're such pretty flowers

The flower color even looks good with the blue of Centaurea montana and the acid yellow of Alchemilla mollis

And the seedpods are sure fun to look at

I should have painted a face on this one

But the flower color clashes horribly with the lavender of Clematis 'Josephine' at the other end of the bed

When the flowers shatter they leave a mess

It's hard to believe it's already time to cut something back. But I think it's time to cut the Oriental poppies to the ground and allow fresh, new foliage to come up. It will mean sacrificing any still unopened buds, but it has to be done.

Good-bye bud!

For a time, maybe a couple of weeks, they'll leave a big open spot in the bed. But soon new foliage starts to come up.

New foliage already coming up

Neighboring plants always look a fright for a while too!

Do you have any messes to clean up in your garden already?