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| ORIENTAL POPPIES |
Like movie actresses who rely on their looks, their moment in the sun is brief.
Ideal for those who love color
My small poppy collection includes a traditional orange, which I like least; several reds, including the old-timer ‘Beauty of Livermere’; and the salmon-pink ‘Cedric Morris’. And ‘Patty’s Plum’, a dusky purple cultivar that began as a volunteer in an English compost pile, another good argument for not sending green waste to the local landfill. ['Beauty of Livermere' and 'Patty's Plum' are shown above.
There are still more Oriental poppies, including whites and cultivars with doubled petals, ruffled petals, and petals with edges that are fringed or serrated. Whatever the petal color, the flower’s center will be blotched with black or another dark color and contain a large, decorative seed capsule surrounded by dark-colored stamens.
Easy to grow but not to transplant
Maybe I haven’t dug out my poppies because they are so easy to grow, unparticular about soil and site, without serious bug and disease problems, drought-tolerant, and cope with both heat and cold (USDA Zones 3 through 9; Sunset Zones 1–11, 14–21, 30–45). They do best in full sun but remarkably well in partial shade.
Despite their reputation for not liking to have their roots disturbed -- transplanting large plants can be a gamble -- Oriental poppies are easy to propagate from root cuttings. Also, all of today’s Oriental poppies are hybrids, which means their seeds won’t come true, but it is easy to grow plants from seed if you don't expect them to look like the parent plant. [See third photo above.]
Georgia O’Keefe must have set up her easel in the garden because Oriental poppies aren’t ideal flowers for the vase. Open blooms begin to fall apart almost the minute you cut them, but if you’re keen for a bouquet, pick flowers with buds that are ready to open and sear the end of the stems before you place them in water.