Bees love them and these delicate beauties add colour to any plot
This is the year of the poppy, according to international organisation for ornamental plants, Fleuroselect, so let’s take a closer look at this lovely flower.
Here in the UK the poppy is inextricably linked with remembrance of those who died in the Great War and all those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of the country. The symbolism is profound – these are the flowers that grew on the battlefields after the war. The scarlet petals of the field poppy remind us of blood spilt and the black centres are respectfully mournful.
Poppies have a fascinating history – Papaver somniferum is the source of opium and became a valuable commodity traded in colonial times and resulted in the opium wars between Britain and China.
Poppies are still grown today by both pharmaceutical companies legitimately for this valuable extract as well as by
the drug trade for heroin. They are also grown for their seeds for human consumption in breads and cakes. They are widely cultivated as ornamental plants – even though their beauty is quite fleeting, their vibrant floppy petals add romance and joy to the garden.
There are a number of different types to grow in your plot. Shirley poppies are cultivated varieties of the red field poppy – so called as they were hybridised by a vicar in the hamlet of Shirley near Croydon in the 19th century.
These are easy to grow annuals with delicate tissue-like petals in shades of pink and white. Sow directly outdoors in spring for June flowers or next autumn to produce earlier. They will set seed and establish themselves and are perfect for any cottage garden. Choose an open sunny site. I grow oriental poppies, in particular ‘Beauty of Livermere’ which has satiny crimson petals with an ebony mark at the base. These are herbaceous so they return in the same spot each year.
I particularly love when the large green hairy buds are straining at the seams about to burst open. You can purchase them bare root for planting now or in pots later. It’s also possible to propagate them via root cuttings.
‘Patty’s Plum’ is one of the best known varieties with gorgeous silky dark pink petals but also look out for ‘Royal Wedding’ with bridal white flowers and a purple blotch – sumptuous!
Then there’s the Welsh poppy, Meconopsis cambrica, a cheerful yellow perennial which is native to these isles. It’s happy in damp and shady conditions and will naturalise easily in the garden and sneak itself into cracks and crevices. Aurantiaca is a rather lovely orange version of this.
Finally there’s the holy grail, the Himalayan blue poppy Meconopsis. It’s a really true blue flower but is tricky to grow. It’s perennial and ‘Slieve Donard’ is the best for UK gardens. If your soil is moist and acidic, and you can grow camellias and rhodos, then you have a chance. Even so, they don’t like waterlogging or getting at all dry in the summer. Their natural habitat is high altitude in the Himalayas where there is plenty of rainfall in summer.
What all these very different types of poppies have in common is that bees love their pollen, so include any one of these to support our insect population.
Sow directly outdoors in spring for flowers from June onwards