A poppy in the garden

Bees love to visit poppies for their pollen and goldfinches feed on the seeds. There are various cultivars of the common poppy, including the ‘Shirley’ poppy, named after the Surrey village where the Victorian vicar and botanist William Wilks found a white-edged poppy amid a patch of common ones in his garden. By raising plants from its seeds over a period of several years, he created a new, paler strain. The Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale; below) is also a popular garden choice, with a range of colours including white, red, orange and salmon. It can be seen in the wild as an escapee.