Izmir Afghan Pink Flame Poppy (500+ seeds)

This exclusive Afghan Pink Flame poppy is an example of some of our finest work to date. It's become somewhat of our flagship strain.
While the genetics used to create it originated from Izmir Oil & Spice, it was never sold by them. We are the original breeder. 
The gorgeous flowers of this poppy are hot pink and white with fringed petals that look like flames (hence the name). They are truly stunning when you see them in real life!

It was already an incredible strain with extremely desirable characteristics when we obtained these from Izmir, but the genetics were quite unstable and we believed we could improve them through selective breeding. 
Through crossing and back-crossing, we've been able to stabilize the strain and increase it's desirable traits by carefully selecting each parent plant with a strict criteria, year after year. Only the seeds from the best pods are saved for future generations.

We often get asked which poppy we recommend. While we feel you can't go wrong with any of our Izmir varieties, personally, as a longtime grower, if I could only grow one variety of poppy, this would be it.
Customers who have dealt with me over the years know I don't try to hype any particular variety. They all are unique. However, with this one, I will say, in my opinion, it's the best poppy cultivar available on the market today. If there's something better out there, I haven't found it.

These are our most expensive seeds for two reasons. The cost to produce is higher and the seed return is smaller. We grow our Afghans on a separate property, so there's extra time and fuel cost to care for them. We do this to prevent cross-pollination with lesser-quality strains. This is one variety you will want to keep a pure copy of.

The seed return is smaller due to a few reasons…Many times when the flower opens, the anthers are fried/dead, so there’s no pollen to fertilize the stigma. Sometimes there’s no stamens/filaments altogether. 
Under optimal conditions, the pod walls become so dense that it causes conditions that make it difficult to obtain viable seeds from...And it already naturally produces less seeds, to begin with...Approximately 1/2 to 1/3 less seed than our Afghan Pink Special and sometimes no viable seeds at all.

When you can get these plants to grow big, as the seed pods reach maturity, they become so thick and dense that they will start to rot from the inside out, starting with the seeds. I think, due to the lack of fresh air/oxygen being able to reach the inner pod. This is not as prevalent on the smaller, less dense pods, but the bigger/denser ones are highly susceptible to rot and having the seeds turn black. 
We have to harvest the seeds at the first sign of pod rot to save what seeds we can. We then have to manually pick out all black, rot-stained seeds with tweezers. It’s actually a real pain dealing with this variety, but it's so amazing, it's worth the extra trouble.
For these reasons we must charge more to be fairly compensated for the amount of time, effort and extra cost that goes into bringing these to market.

For poppy connoisseurs, this is an absolute must-have for your collection! As a 20+ year grower, I believe anyone will be amazed when you experience growing these for the first time. This is the one we get the most positive messages about. 

**DISCLAIMER**: This variety of seed is not for beginners to learn on. If you've never grown poppies before, we suggest going with a cheaper seed until you get some experience in germinating different poppy seeds. Not all varieties' seeds respond to the same conditions.

**INDOOR GROWING**: We understand a lot more people are growing indoors these days. These Afghan seeds can be stubborn to germinate indoors, under artificial conditions. We cannot guarantee the same high germination rates when attempted anywhere other than direct sowing outdoors, in early spring.
If growing indoors, it is recommended that you have some experience germinating different types of poppy seed indoors before advancing to these, in order to avoid costly mistakes and loss of grow time.

If germinating indoors, we suggest doing a small test with just a few seeds, to make sure your method and conditions works for them before sowing more. We give lots of extra seeds in each pack...Use them to test your germination method first.
We won't be able to replace these seeds this year for those who attempt to germinate indoors unsuccessfully, as we lost the majority of our Afghans, this season, to extreme weather conditions so the seeds are in very limited supply.

If germinating Afghan seeds indoors and they're taking more than 10 days to sprout, there's some condition they don't like. Common issues are temperature, medium or lighting. When you get the conditions just right, they can germinate in under a week. 
Direct sowing them outdoors, in early spring, is more reliable and productive, especially if you're new to growing poppies.

This flower is very easy to grow outdoors, simply sprinkle some seeds onto loose soil in early spring, gently rake in, begin watering, and in approximately 6-7 weeks, without hardly any tending to at all, you will have the most beautiful garden that is sure to garner many compliments from friends, family and neighbours!

This variety generally grows 3-4 feet in height and has extremely dense, barrel-shaped pods.

 Poppies are self-seeding, giving them the convenience of a perrenial!

***INTERNATIONAL BUYERS*** We ship worldwide with a nearly 100% success rate, however, poppy seeds are not legal to import to all countries. Please check with your local customs agency regarding laws if you are unsure.

While it is extremely rare that we ever lose and order to customs, due to the way we ship our seeds, we must inform you that there is always the slight chance (>1%) that your order could be seized at the border. 

So far, Australia is the only country we've had this happen. We will attempt a re-ship, at no cost to you, upon viewing a copy of the seizure letter. 
To minimize customs issues and keep the shipping cost low, we only ship by standard International Lettermail. This is our preferred method as it does not require us to register the mail and declare it's contents, which greatly reduces the risk of it being seized at the border. We ship discreetly in a plain white, legal-sized envelope. It just looks like we've mailed you a letter. However, please be aware that standard Lettermail does not provide tracking. You will not receive a tracking number with your order. 
Furthermore, in Canada, our postal service does not provide international tracking services like most other developed countries. To send a tracked package outside of Canada we must ship with a third party carrier such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. and it is very expensive. It is generally between $75-$90 CAD for a single envelope and increases the risk of having the order seized by customs, as the mail must be registered. Within Canada, the cost to ship with tracking is approximately $15 and must be paid for by the customer. In our opinion, standard Lettermail is the safest, most economical option for everyone. 

***US RESIDENTS: There is a service provided by USPS called "Informed Delivery" that, 

if you sign up (it's free), they will email you greyscale images of your incoming lettermail a few days in advance. This can help you sort of track the whereabouts of your order and give you an idea of when it will arrive. Please visit: www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htm to sign up and see if your address is eligible.

***At Okanagan Organics customer satisfaction is our #1 priority. If for any reason you are not fully satisfied with your experience with us, please, before leaving negative feedback, send us a message and we will do everything we can to resolve the matter quickly.

*All seeds we sell are intended for ornamental growing and culinary purposes only.