Papaver somniferum - A Profile of Opium Poppy

PLANT PROFILE

Papaver somniferum

Opium Poppy

I got my first Opium Poppy at a spring plant exchange. The foliage was quite different from anything I had seen before. No label was present to identify it but with nothing to lose I took it home to see what it would become. That first one was double-flowered and bloomed a pale lavender colour, with shaggy-edged petals. I was hooked. My second acquisition came a year later, hitching a ride with a gift plant from a friend. It was single-flowered and bloomed an amazing reddish shade with a purple centre. If that wasn't enough, my third plant turned out to be the one I dubbed 'Big Red' which you see above. Now the colours seem to mix and change in seedlings which appear each spring, some nicer than others, but all with attractive foliage which adds another element to the garden picture they help create.

PRONUNCIATION papp-PAY-vurr sahm-NIFF-ur-um

COMMON NAME Opium Poppy

SYNONYMS

DERIVATION somniferum = sleep-inducing

FAMILY Papaveraceae - Poppy

TYPE fast-growing upright, self-seeding annual

USES

FLOWER single or double

COLOUR various

FOLIAGE oblong, lobed

COLOUR light grayish-green

HARDINESS Zone 3

EXPOSURE full sun

SOIL well-drained, light and sandy

WATER

HEIGHT 30"

SPREAD 12"

BLOOM July and August with a few into October

STAKING not necessary

DEADHEAD yes, for tidiness

PROBLEMS growing these is still illegal

AFTERCARE pull entire plant after flowers have finished or leave a few seedheads to mature for seed collection

FALL CARE remove any plants not disposed of earlier

PROPAGATION by seed

SEED CULTURE sow collected seed in late summer for next year's bloom or allow plants to self-seed

FERTILIZER requirements not known

MULCH requirements not known

FORMS the flowers of single-blooming forms can be 4" across; doubles can be Carnation-flowered series - fringed flowers in mixed colours or Peony-flowered series - large, rounded often cup-shaped double flowers in a mixture of colours
COMPANION PLANTS COMPANIONS PLANTS