'Medallion' poppies (Papaver) bloomed last month with tissue paper petals in an interesting shade of rosy-mauve.
Because I have them growing right next to a large shrub ('Black Lace' elderberry/Sambucus in the background), they only get light from one side. This caused them to lean toward the light and flop over, but I used a peony cage to hold them up.
The petals on each flower faded over a week or so to the pale shade you see above at right. Then petals dropped to reveal interesting seed pods (above left).
Black splotches are revealed when looking down from above, plus those frilly centers. My 3-year old son kept asking me "What's in the middle of the puppies?"
After blooming for a few weeks, the flowers faded and the foliage started looking tattered, so I cut it back to the ground to encourage a fresh mound of leaves. Not every plant appreciates this treatment, but poppies are one of them along with salvia, delphinium, columbine and astrantia.
Speaking of astrantia, 'Roma' astrantia in the foreground above blended beautifully with the color of the poppies. I'm glad fellow blogger Liz introduced me to this plant, as it's my favorite astrantia now.
I'll end with this final shot of a poppy lit by the setting sun.
In other garden news, we survived the heat wave that lasted a couple of weeks with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Many plants looked a little crispy around the edges by the end, but now highs have sunk down to the 80's, with nighttime lows in the 50's, so the plants (and gardener) should start to recover.
Very pretty. I had beautiful white poppies for years and then one year they were all gone when spring came, never to return. Never understood why.
ReplyDeleteThose poppies are gorgeous. My mom gave me some seed (can't find it..LOL) of poppies that look like peonies. She has them growing. They are pretty, but I like the old fashioned, real poppy looking ones like you have here. I have some seeds from last year and I hope they will still be good for winter sowing this year.
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