The pleasures of poppies

Flower & Garden Magazine, April-May, 1996 by Molly Dean

I'll Never Forget The Moment I saw my first poppy field. I happened upon it while riding through the Kentish countryside of southeastern England, and the rich beauty of the wild corn poppies was breathtaking. Why does this memory still affect me so profoundly? Perhaps it was the abundance of all that shimmering red, or perhaps it was because the field seemed to me like a Monet painting come to life. Upon reflection, however, I think that my reaction had something to do with the contrast of the paperlike fragility of a single blossom to the boldness of the color.

The poppy could indeed be called a flower of paradox. Consider, for instance, the surprise of sunny, golden-orange Iceland poppies dotting a bleak subarctic tundra, their native habitat. Poppies are a diverse group; the poppy genus (Papaver) is only a part of the huge poppy family, Papaveraceae. Also included in the family are such familiar flowers as bloodroot, celandine poppy and California poppy.

My experience of seeing the English poppy field was recaptured for me last summer in the discovery of another poppy field in the mountainous countryside of western North Carolina. This field and similar areas had been artificially seeded by the North Carolina Highway Department, but the overall effect was just as pleasing. This particular field was filled with mixed colors of Shirley poppies.

When I first saw these poppies, their marvelous colors could be appreciated at their optimum, catching the light and appearing to glow against the gray of the sky. The flowers were crimson, rose, pink, salmon, cream, white and various combinations, such as white tipped with peach or the same snowy white edging vivid rose. Many of the flowers were nearly chest high, and had a variety of forms and shapes: single, double, semidouble, ruffled and crinkled.

Shirley poppies are annual flowers descended from the red corn or field poppies (P. rhoeas) that I saw in England. Beginning with a single oddity of nature, one red poppy tipped at the ends of its petals with white, the Rev. W. Wilks of Shirley, England, began in the late 19th century to improve and expand the color range of this sort of poppy. He eventually developed all the colors I described seeing, and also created flowers with yellow or white centers instead of the original black.

The Shirley poppy has become one of our most common garden poppies. Few realize, however, the intriguing variety of annual poppies, all easy to grow, that are available today. The effect produced by `Mother of Pearl' (also called `Fairy Wings'), for instance, is shimmering, iridescent and delicately pastel, as suggested by its names. Its colors are unusual: gray, lilac, soft peach and various combinations; and it possesses the desirable characteristics of a long season of bloom and tolerance to heat. Another striking annual poppy, `Ladybird,' possesses shiny red flowers with a black blotch at the center. `Danebrog' displays an unusual white cross at its center.

All of these annual poppies are handsome additions to the home garden; their airy, graceful form makes them particularly effective in borders with a naturalized or cottage look. Their tendency to self-sow also makes them a good choice for informal rather than structured garden styles.

Typical companions might include other sun-loving, late spring- and summer-blooming annuals, such as bachelor's buttons, clarkia, baby's breath (Gypsophila elegans) and oxeye daisies. They combine well also with cottage garden perennials and biennials, such as foxgloves, delphiniums and campanulas. Most of these annual poppies typically attain a height of 2-1/2 feet and, therefore, work well mid-distance in the border. They are useful for filling in spaces between fading spring bulbs and flowering shrubs.

Equally striking in the cottage garden is the opium poppy (P. somniferum). Even though the opium poppy species has an illegal status in this country, hybridized varieties are legal. They have large (up to 5 inches wide), showy, sometimes frilly flowers of white, pink, purple and crimson. Adding to their appeal are elegant urn-shaped seed heads and silver-gray foliage.

Usually attaining a height of 3 to 4 feet, opium poppy hybrids are useful in creating bold splashes of color toward the rear of the garden border. They are often grown in conjunction with rich blue delphiniums, purple bearded irises, peonies and even old-fashioned roses. Try the extra-double variety `White Cloud' or creamy yellow `Golden Paeony.'

Meadows in California are covered each spring by a cheerful golden-orange native flower known as the California poppy, Eschscholzia californica. The California poppy is distinctly cuplike in shape and, thanks to hybridizers, comes in an ever-expanding range of new colors and forms. New hybrids include rich bicolors and wavy-edged varieties with the texture of silk.

The California poppy has a diversity of uses in the garden. Its boldly colored flowers are a mainstay of summer beds, but also in window boxes and even containers. Its companions are likely to be other carefree sun lovers, such as zinnias, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers and even pink dianthus for an interesting color contrast. Another approach is to emphasize the plant's silver-blue foliage, using it as a filler in gardens with other gray-leafed plants.