Homage to Poppies

06/12/2003
Homage to Poppies

Is there a spot in your landscape that is spangled right now (June) with hundreds of brilliant red and pink blossoms? If not, you're missing out on one of gardening's cheapest thrills--the annual or Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas), or coquelicot, as it's called in France.


The coquelicot is a native wildflower or indigenous weed--depending on your perspective--all over Europe, as well as throughout the Mediterranean basin, including northern Africa. I have seen this wonderfully cosmopolitan flower in all regions of France, in Sardinia and other parts of Italy, in Morocco, in Tunisia, and in Portugal.




Wherever I encounter the brave and cheerful poppy, I am always happy and uplifted by the site of its brilliant, silky petals. It thrives in any sort of disturbed ground, and so is often seen at the edges of fields where the farmer's herbicide stops, as in the stunning wild-flower tapestry of poppies, white silene, and wild feverfew in the photo at left taken at the edge of a rapeseed field in Normandie.



The wild poppy ranges from brilliant scarlet to vibrant orange, and its blossoms vary from an inch to several inches in diameter. Blossom size seems to depend partly on fertility and soil moisture. But poor soil and drought never keep the coquelicot from blooming, which it does with abandon and abundance from May into July, depending on local climate and time of sowing.

"Garden varieties" of wild poppy often contain a wide range of pinks, reds, whites, and sometimes, unusual grayish-mauve shades. Many also have a contrasting white, pink, or red edge to the petals called a "picotee." Botanically, the garden variety Papaver rhoeas is identical to the wild species. It's just been selected for a wider color range, but this doesn't change its easy culture.



Part of the vibrancy of the poppy's good looks is due to the cluster of black stamens in the center of each blossom. As an added fillip of ornamentation, the black stamens are sometimes surrounded by contrasting white blotches at the bases of the petals. In addition, the petals are thin and translucent, with a texture of silken crepe. A bunch of them backlit by a morning or evening sun is a ravishingly luminous sight.



The annual poppy (Papaver rhoeas) has been used in Europe and Africa since antiquity as a medicinal, beverage, and dye plant. For this reason, it can by rights be included in the herb or vegetable garden. As you can see in the photo at left, it has free rein in my own potager, where the sight of its cheerful blossoms inspire me in my weeding. An infusion of the petals is anti-tussive, antispasmodic, and in extremely large doses, hypnotic or sedative. Artisanal syrups and liqueurs of coquelicot are widely available in France and are used to prepare lightly perfumed and beautifully colored aperitifs or cocktails of sparkling water.

In northern Africa, the petals are used as a dye in the production of colored wools for carpets and ceremonial cloths. As you might imagine, the resulting color is a rich red reminiscent of that achieved with the cocchineal beetle in Mexico.



Annual poppy has thin stems and blue-green, divided, lobed foliage. The entire plant is covered with hairs. The stems secrete a milky white latex, which defies many people's efforts to use them as a cutflower, as the latex clogs the end of the stem and prevents the uptake of water. However, a simple trick will allow you to circumvent this problem and use your blossoms in bouquets. Simply recut the stems when you get them in the house and immediately pass the ends of the stems through a candle flame a couple of times. This sears the latex and keeps the pipeline in the stems open.

Don't miss out on using your poppies in bouquets, as they are one of the most beautiful cutflowers there is. There stems have such a sinuous grace that no other embellishment is needed; just the poppies themselves make an elegant arrangement, no matter how you plop them in the vase. You don't even need to bother to arrange them as the stems actually twist and move as the blossoms open. Cut the blossoms in bud, just when the buds have begun to crack or when the crook in the stem behind the bud straightens. Poppies by themselves are prettiest in a vase with a relatively narrow opening.


The annual Shirley poppy has many cousins, among them the perennial poppy (Papaver orientalis) at left and the annual opium or--as we prefer to call it in the US in order to keep the DEA agents out of our gardens, the breadbox--poppy (Papaver somniferum, photo below right). Both of these come in a wide range of pinks, reds, apricots, and whites, and have larger flowers than their humble fieldflower cousin. All of them bloom at about the same time--early summer.



The oriental poppy goes dormant around midsummer, and will often resprout in autumn. Don't make the mistake of thinking it's dead, and don't overwater it while it is dormant. The breadbox poppy (called a pavot in French) has glaucous, nearly hairless leaves that are much less lobed than those of Shirley poppy. It has more copious latex and much larger seed capsules containing "poppyseed" of the kind used on cakes and breads. (The seed of the coquelicot is as fine as dust, by contrast.) While the annual Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas can be used for to make drinks, the other two poppies discussed above are toxic and should never be ingested.

The annual poppy (coquelicot) is about the easiest plant to grow that you could possibly imagine. Once you've planted it and it blooms, you'll have an abundance of seedpods to harvest, full of millions of tiny seeds. The very best time to plant is late summer into fall, because that's when nature herself plants wild poppy seed. Barring that, spring will do as well. Drop that seed anywhere there is bare ground or gravel, and it will grow. There is no need to cover the seed.

In fact, part of the charm of annual poppies is that they are always popping up where you least expect them. This poppy is a plant that has its own ideas about charming landscapes. This year, it created a regular work of art by covering a gravel area next to the house where we have an assortment of teak garden furniture (see main photo above). The result is an unplanned work of surrealist art--silvery chairs afloat in a sea of blossoms.

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Collection Herbier--Poppy and wheat
Poppy pillow
Contemporary rock vase
Embroidered table linens--Full service for 6--Fleurs des Champs'