The long-awaited moment has finally arrived!One of our most beautiful garden perennials, Papaver orientale, opens its buds these days. The first plants, brought over 400 years ago from eastern Turkey to Paris, probably bloomed red, which is similar to their one-year-old relative - the field poppy Papaver rhoeas.
From the beginning of the 20th century, various varieties began to appear, the large spherical flowers of which delight our eyes today with delicate shades of pink and white. It is the different colors that make the poppy seed seem impressive at times and romantic at other times. However, it always attracts eyes when it grows on a sunny bed.
This perennial, up to a meter high, creates nice compositions with species flowering at the same time as Salvia nemorosa, the bearded iris or ornamental garlic. If we like naturalistic discounts, let's plant different varieties of the Aquilegia spotted eagle next to the poppies.
As the leaves of the poppy die after the seeds have matured and only grow new ones in autumn, it must be additionally surrounded with ground cover plants to fill in the gaps.Lush clumps of Geraniums of various types are perfect for this species, especially the long-flowering variety 'Rozanne'.
For naturalistic arrangements, let's also choose other poppy species, mainly the one-year-old field poppy. While it used to be, together with cornflower, a permanent element of cereal fields, it is becoming rarer in modern fields.Intense red flowers look particularly attractive on larger surfaces, but they can also successfully fill gaps in sunny perennial beds or grow in a pot, always giving an excellent effect.
Seeds are sown in March, but if we missed the right moment, we can alternately plant several copies of Papaver rupifragum orange poppy in a bed or in a container. This perennial plant is very similar in appearance to its one-year-old cousin, and blooms with gorgeous orange-red flowers from May to September.
A real rarity is the 'Patty's Plum' variety with an intriguing dark purple color of flowers.Despite the unusual beauty of flowers, plants of this species are rarely planted in larger groups, because their above-ground part dies after flowering. For this reason, they should be provided with neighborhoods to fill in the gaps in the second half of the summer. Oriental poppy thrives best in sunny positions, in deep soils.
The Siberian poppy, Papaver nudicaule, is also often characterized as a perennial. This exceptional species has many colors - from white, through yellow, orange, and red. The flowers have a yellow interior.It can be used in spring flower beds, in naturalistic plantings (under favorable conditions, the plant can sow itself) and for planting spring compositions in containers.
Poppy plants
There are many plants that look like poppies. One of them is Meconopsis betonicifolia.The shape of the flowers of this species resembles large poppies, but the species is distinguished by an unusual blue color for poppies.A very popular species is Eschscholtzia californica, also known as the California poppy.
This annual species is often found in gardens and flower meadows because of its beauty, long and abundant flowering and ease of cultivation.It looks most effective when grown in larger groups.
