Poppies Aplenty

Betty Jakum
Adams County Master Gardener

I came upon my first poppies when I moved into an old farmhouse that was depressingly drab and in need of extensive remodeling. Its only redeeming quality was a small patch of brilliant deep red/orange flowers that greeted me the following spring. They were there on a slight incline near the tumbling down front porch. I soon came to know these beautiful flowers as Papaver orientale (Oriental poppy).

One of the most recognizable poppies in our area because of their vivid, tissue-like blooms, they are native to Asia. Chinese red is the most familiar color, but salmon, white and pink flowers can sometimes be found. Their feathery foliage is also attractive. It disappears in the heat of summer only to return in fall’s cooling temperatures. Oriental poppies are hardy perennials if planted in sunny, moist, well-drained soil. They are not picky about soil type or pH and attract bees. In their native Asian culture their red color symbolizes good luck, happiness and prosperity. Our patch has continued blooming on its slight incline for over 50 years now.

Another genus of poppy perhaps not found in many Pennsylvania gardens today but still familiar from countless news stories and TV documentaries is Papaver somniferum (Opium Poppy). The origin of these poppies is obscured by time with some sources putting them in Southwest Asia as early as 3400 BCE and others having them first grown in the Eastern Mediterranean. Their main color is a striking pink although they sometimes bloom in red, purple and white. These colors contrast nicely with the distinctive gray-green, cabbage-like foliage around the stem. Their unique rounded pod capsules, ranging from dime size to egg size, can contain hundreds of dried seeds. The Opium poppy is an annual that readily reseeds itself. It grows in zones 3 to 8 in full to partial sun, in moist well-drained soil maturing 2 to 4 feet tall.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, opium use was prevalent during the American Civil War when it was considered patriotic to grow, ensuring a steady supply of painkilling medicine for wounded soldiers. In early Pennsylvania German gardens opium poppies were grown for medicinal purposes. These early settlers were fully aware of their painkilling and addictive properties. Until 1915 opium was sold as a popular non-prescription remedy for pain and other ailments.

According to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, strictly speaking, growing opium poppies is illegal in the United States. Only if they are grown for flower or culinary seed purposes is it considered legal. Seed companies that offer opium-type poppies, often identifying them as breadseed poppies, concentrate on low morphine varieties bred to produce less significant quantities of opium. My original seeds came from a scruffy, tow-headed child selling dried seed pods at his house on a remote Vermont mountain top. I had never seen the lovely pink flowers before, and this somewhat bedraggled youngster was so excited to sell me some. They cost a quarter.

The variety of plants in the Papaver family is extraordinary. There is the Plume Poppy that bears little resemblance to most other poppies. A perennial, it grows 6 to 8 feet tall and makes a great background plant with downy, loose branching clusters of white flowers and large scalloped leaves. At the other end of the spectrum there are Alpine and California poppies that do not reach a foot in height. There is the Prickly Poppy that thrives in Mexican deserts and the Arctic poppy that can be found in arctic and alpine zones of Europe, North America and Asia. They can grow in the Himalayan mountains, in meadows and on expansive plains.

While most poppies prefer sunny locales, the Celandine poppy, also known as the Woods poppy, likes a nice moist shady spot to display its showy yellow flowers in springtime. While many poppies come to us from afar, it is a native herbaceous perennial found in the humus-rich forest soils of the eastern United States and Ontario.

One final poppy to take a closer look at is Papaver rhoeas, (the common field poppy). It is also known as the Corn poppy, and more importantly, the Flanders poppy. Poppies have symbolized remembrance of fallen soldiers in past wars for hundreds of years, but it was only in the early decades of the 20th century during World War I (1914-1919) that this association deepened. Letters written home by soldiers along the war’s front increasingly told of farm fields, disrupted by the war’s constant shelling, becoming ablaze with scarlet poppies as they bloomed the following spring.

These were none other than Corn poppies, the seeds of which can lie dormant for as long as 80 years, yet germinate if the soil is disturbed. Continual bombardment disturbed the soil and brought seeds to the surface. They were fertilized by nitrogen from the bombs’ explosions and lime from the shattered rubble of buildings. More poignantly, the blood and bones of millions of men, horses, donkeys, dogs and other animals richly fertilized the soil. The longer the war continued, the more men and animals died. The more men and animals died, the more the poppies thrived. The war-torn battlefields of France and Belgium were often churned into seas of mud, and poppies bloomed between the trench lines and No-Man’s-Land on the Western Front.

The similarity between the fallen soldiers and the spring’s flush of red poppies was lost on few who witnessed it. Such was the case with Canadian volunteer medical officer, Lt. Col. John McCrae who was inspired to write perhaps the most memorable poem of World War I, "In Flanders’ Fields, " the first two lines of which are familiar to many: "In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row," At this time of Veterans Day commemorations (the Armistice ending World War I took place on November 11, our Veterans Day) it might be good to take some time to revisit this simple poem highlighting the Flanders poppy and maybe think about planting some seeds of these lovely flowers in your own garden as remembrance of those who died to keep us free.

In our Zone 6, the tiny Corn poppy seeds can be mixed with sand for better distribution and scattered in garden areas in late fall or early spring. Gently press the seeds into the soil and barely cover with fine soil as they need light to germinate. Sow in any moist, well-drained area in full sun where they will be permanently sited. They do not like to be transplanted. They do fine in nutrient-poor soil and fertilizing them is not necessary They grow 2 to 3 feet tall.

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