Poppy

The relationship between Papaver somniferum and people predates written history. Evidence of early poppy domestication in the Mediterranean shows that people cultivated poppies for their medicinal use in the Neolithic Era. Poppy’s long relationship with people is remarkable. The powers of this plant have such a strong hold on us that people have built empires on it’s value and gone to war for it several times. Even today, governments and corporations work very hard to maintain control over the concoctions of this plant. Our ornamental poppies are bred to have very low traces of opium, but they offer brilliant peony-like blooms in shades of purple, red, pink, salmon, white and bicolors. The flowers are a short-lived explosion lasting 3-5 days, but the glaucous seed pods are exquisite fresh or dried.

Bloom time: June