Name: Papaver rhoeas aka corn poppy or Flanders poppy
Type of Plant: Self-seeding annual for full sun.
Why I love this: These poppies create a showy celebration in the early-summer garden. When they are happy you’ll have them coming back every spring. Corn poppies grow two to three feet tall. They are thin plants that fit in and among other annuals and perennials. While they are flowering leave them thick and once they start to fade leave about a quarter of them to seed and pull the rest so that your other plants will thrive.
A Word to the Wise: If you want to see corn poppies every year, don’t mulch the areas where they grow. Mulch will prevent the seeds from germinating. Alternatively, you mulch once the plants have finished flowering with an inch or two of bark mulch. Don’t mulch any more thickly. After the seed heads start to turn tan and brown, harvest the pods and store the seed in a jar over the winter. Then scatter those seeds on top of the ground in the spring.
You say you don’t like red flowers in the garden? Snap out of it!
I plant annuals in this bed along with all the perennials that are here. But right now the corn poppies rule.
Going out to the poppy patch with a cup of coffee in the morning is a magical way to start the day. The buds often sport small parts of their fuzzy covering as they open.
