Poppy Blooms

During the first spring in my current home, I noticed the spiky green leaves unfurling in a unruly flower bed.  I thought it was some sore of thistle.  The round ball of green held itself tightly together for several days.  Then one morning–bam!  This beautiful red flower with its black center had burst into bloom.  According to my eyes this was a classic poppy, but I was stunned to find it growing here.  Every year since then there have been no more than three crimson poppy blooms.  While they always bloomed in the same area of the garden, they seemed to pop up in a slightly different spot.

I have never seen poppies in New Hampshire in any garden center or nursery until this year.  I finally visited Blue Bell nursery in Lee, NH that I have driven by hundreds of times but never stopped at.  My casual browsing came to a stand-still because I was stunned to see the poppies in 1 quart pots on a table outside the greenhouse.  So I bought one.  Let’s all laugh at that.  Why would I only buy one?  I don’t know!  Maybe I had visions my yard ending up looking like the poppy field where Dorothy fell asleep right before arriving at the Emerald City.  I planted the little unbloomed poppy in my garden bed.  It looked lost. Since I enjoyed them so much, my husband and daughters jokingly said I really should have purchased more to plant.  I did return to the nursery, but waited too long because there was one lonely plant remaining.  After adding it to my garden, my grand total of poppies is three.  After reading the little plastic tab that is stuck in the dirt of the potting container,  I learned I was planting the Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) of the Allegro variety.  

According to my research, the Oriental poppy is grown simply for its beauty in the garden.  This type has no medicinal benefits and is not a precursor to narcotics.  Two of the herbal books I frequently reference in my home library use the annual California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)  in their remedies.  I also emailed a local herbal farm and apothecary, Misty Meadows in Lee, New Hampshire.  They grow the California poppy for medicinal use.  The Opium poppy (Somnifera papaver) is illegal to grow in the United States although they are grown in other countries to make narcotic drugs like heroin.  Opium poppies are also producers of the seeds purchased in grocery stores for culinary purposes (for that famous lemon poppy seed muffin).

I am fascinated.  I am assuming the poppy already established in my garden is the Oriental variety.  I just planted more of the Oriental poppies.  I can check the Opium poppy off my list.  So I really just needed to find California poppies.  Again I will state that I have never seen poppies in greenhouses or nurseries until this year.  I attended a local farmers market because I need lettuce for the BLT’s I was making for supper that night.  The Aspen Hill Herb Farm had a stand at the market which was loaded with varieties of plants.  I had never heard of Aspen Hill before, but I certainly won’t forget them, because there were California poppies in little quart pots nestled among fellow green sprouts on one of their tables.  (And now I know Aspen Hill Herb Farm is located 15 minutes from my house!)  Also, after the email I received from Misty Meadows stating they “grow” California poppies, I clicked around their website to find they have a list of plants for sale and these were included in their inventory.

What a life lesson!  Take a deep breath, open your eyes and heart, and what you need will find its way to you.

And I also know now that there is little fear I will create the sleeping field of red blooms by the Wicked Witch in Oz.