Bursting with poppy love
Poppy seeds can lie dormant for years – but get set for a riot of colour when they spark into life
BACK in 1880, the Reverend William Wilks made a remarkable discovery when tending to an unkempt corner of his garden in Shirley, a suburb of Croydon in South London. Nestling among a patch of scarlet poppies was a solitary bloom that stood out due to its distinctive white edges.
As a keen amateur gardener and member of the Royal Horticultural Society, he recognised its significance. He later picked the single seedpod, sowed its contents and then spent the next two decades developing a range of flowers that have become known simply as Shirley poppies.
The blooms came in many shades, but had similar attributes: they were all single, with pale bases and no black markings. It is obvious that the clergyman was proud of his babies, as he wrote: ‘Double poppies and poppies with black centres may be greatly admired by some, but they are not Shirley poppies.’
Some modern Shirley poppy mixtures deviate from Wilks’s original concept – featuring double flowers and even ones with black centres – but they remain one of the most popular types of annual poppy, guaranteed to fill the garden with colour within about 12 weeks of sowing. These and many other types of garden-worthy poppies are related to the common field poppy (Papaver rhoeas), a brilliant red wildflower that can be found across Europe, Asia and Africa. Botanists think it’s native to the eastern Mediterranean region and was spread in bags of corn seed carried by early settlers.
Field poppy seeds can lie dormant in the ground for decades and are sparked into life only when exposed to light. This is why they bloomed so spectacularly on the battlefields of France and Belgium in the First World War, in soil churned up by shelling.
It’s possible to buy field poppy seeds, but in my opinion, this species is a little too coarse for gardens and they are best enjoyed growing wild in the countryside. Its cultivated varieties, along with those of the Caucasian poppy (P. commu- tatum), opium poppy (P. somniferum) and other annual types, offer more ornamental value.
Annual poppies prefer a sunny or partially shaded spot and aren’t particularly fussy about the soil type, so long as it’s free-draining. Seeds can be sown directly into the ground in spring to flower from summer into autumn, or sown in September for an even earlier display the following year.
In order to ensure seeds germinate evenly, without leaving empty patches, give the soil some attention. Remove weeds, fork over the ground and rake to a fine finish, removing any large stones. Aim to do this a week or so before sowing, giving the soil time to settle.
Scatter the seeds thinly over the surface, allowing them to germinate wherever they fall – for my money, the display is best when seeds are sown in irregular drifts, rather than geometric blocks. When the seedlings are about 1in tall, thin them out if they are too close, leaving about 4in between plants.
Individual flowers will last about a day, but plants will produce a succession of blooms for many weeks or even months on end, depending on variety. If you don’t want them to self-seed with abandon, nip off flower heads as soon as the petals start to fade.
SETTLERS SPREAD PLANTS FAR AND WIDE – BY ACCIDENT