One morning back in 1880, Mr. Wilks, Vicar of Shirley in England, noticed a patch of wild field poppies, one with a very narrow edge of white. He marked it and saved the seed and, the following year, out of 200 plants, he noted that four or five of the flowers were edged. The best … Read more
The Spaniards called the California poppy Copa de Oro, a cup of gold, and Dormidera after its habit of closing at sundown, or on sunless days. They called the California coastline “La Tierra del Fuego”—the land of lire or conflagration —for its seemingly limitless poppy fields that stretched mile upon flaming mile, swathes twenty miles … Read more
1. Are the newer varieties with unusual colors more challenging to grow than the older ones? The newer varieties of Oriental poppies, including those of unusual colors, are, in general, more vigorous and more accessible to grow than most of the older introductions. However, probably none is as challenging and fool-proof as the old-time, orange-colored … Read more