Plant profile: Papaver
The scarlet field poppy is recognisable as a symbol of remembrance, but with more than 70 species of Papaver, in a range of shapes and colours, there’s one for every occasion
John Hoyland recommends the best annual and perennial species of this unassuming garden flower
Few flowers are as widely recognised as the poppy and people with little knowledge of plants will generally be able to identify one. In part this is due to its tenacious presence both in rural lanes and fields and on wasteland and verges in towns. Mainly, though, it is the poppy’s status as an emblem of remembrance that has ensured it is deeply embedded in our psyches.
The fragility of the flowers and ephemeral nature of the field poppy make it a perfect symbol of mourning and remembering. A far less benign influence on humanity is found in another poppy, the source of opium. These two extremes are reflected in the wide range of the genus, which encompasses species whose flowers are elegant and fragile, while others produce flowers that are burly and flamboyant.
Papaver is made up of at least 70 species of annuals, biennials and perennials, growing mainly in the northern hemisphere, including within the Arctic Circle, with one species found in southern Africa. They are part of the Papaveraceae family, which includes other genera commonly referred to as poppies, including Meconopsis (the blue poppy) and Eschscholzia (the Californian poppy).
The common field poppy, Papaver rhoeas, is widespread in Europe and north Africa, usually flowering from late May until the end of July. Typically scarlet, in the wild occasional colour variations appear, and in 1880 a botanising vicar, the Rev W Wilks, found a single red flower with a narrow, white edge around the petals. He selected seedlings that had no black blotching but that retained the white edge and named this the Shirley poppy after his Surrey parish of Shirley.
Several other selections of P. rhoeas have been made. After the Second World War the artist and gardener Sir Cedric Morris scoured the Suffolk countryside for variations in the native poppy and eventually produced a range with a smoky-grey sheen on the petals. More recently, Thompson & Morgan has
developed a seed strain of semi-double flowers, the Mother of Pearl Group, in mainly pastel colours. All of the seed strains produce the occasional bright-red flowers and their progeny will be unpredictable, especially when grown near other forms of P. rhoeas.
The opium poppy, P. somniferum, is equally unrestrained in its ability to produce seedlings in a dazzling array of colours and shapes. In the wild the plant is about 1m tall, with glaucous foliage and white or purple flowers. Cultivated plants tend to retain a blue-grey sheen on the leaves but most standard flowers tend to be a muddy pinkish-purple colour. Dozens of cultivars have been bred, ranging from the deep-maroon flowers of P. somniferum ‘Black Beauty’ to the glistening white of ‘White Cloud’. Some flowers are fully double (the Paeoniiflorum Group) with a mass of crumpled petals resembling a peony. Others (the Laciniatum Group) have fringed or lacerated petals. A drift of opium poppies is an arresting sight and even the gaudier cultivars have a place in bold planting schemes.
The most widely grown perennial is P. orientale, whose typically blousy flowers have made it popular in exuberant planting designs. Most cultivars were bred in Britain in the early 20th century, particularly by nurseryman Amos Perry. A second wave of interest later in the century saw new cultivars from German and Dutch breeders. Many of Perry’s plants are unsurpassed by later cultivars, particularly P. orientale ‘Perry’s White’ (see right) and ‘Indian Chief’, which has large flowers of a deep-mahogany-red on strong stems. In general, the oriental poppies are taller than other poppies (75cm to 1m tall) with larger and more vibrant flowers.
The trend in breeding new oriental poppies has been towards extravagant flowers. P. orientale ‘Miss Piggy’, for example, has enormous (25cm wide), pale-pink flowers with tasselled petals. Although red or orange flamboyant flowers dominate there are more demure cultivars. P. orientale ‘Karine’, bred by Countess von Zeppelin in the 1970s, is a floriferous selection with modest, pale-salmon-pink flowers. Whether your taste veers towards the ostentatious, or you are happy with simplicity, there’s a poppy for you. • John’s recommendations for poppies continue over the next six pages.