Papaver orientale Patty's Plum

Crumpled Silk: Oriental Poppies

Posted on by Ann Mackay

Somehow it feels as if the summer is moving fast. It’s all the fault of the flowers in my garden. (Well, just some of them!)

One day the opening flowers of a plant are teasing you with a flash of colour as they strain to pop out of the confinement of their buds. And just a few days later they’re already gone, leaving you with just a passing memory.

Oriental poppies are amongst the fastest-moving. From that first hint of the glorious petals as the flower emerges, to the rounded seed-head, takes hardly any time.

But the crumpled silk flowers with their dark and mysterious centres are so gorgeous that their short life is something special for me. Nothing in my garden can match the flamboyance or drama of these prima donna blooms and every year I excitedly await the moment that they will open.

The poppy in the top photograph is ‘Patty’s Plum’, a very popular cultivar. The second photograph is of a poppy that was labelled ‘Lilac Girl’, but is really a pretty pink rather than lilac. I tried Googling this plant, but could find little information on it, other than that it may be a seedling of Patty’s Plum. In any case, it’s a lovely flower, and I shall look forward to seeing it again next year.

Papaver orientale 'Lilac Girl'
Papaver orientale, said to be ‘Lilac Girl’

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

12 thoughts on “Crumpled Silk: Oriental Poppies”

    1. I’m greedy and would like the poppies to be around a bit longer! (Actually, the recent rain finished off ‘Lilac Girl’.) Most of the flowers we have bloom well, but we do have some evening primroses – and you really have to catch them at the right time!

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    1. Thanks Stephanie! I’ve found them quite short-lived in the past, so I’ve obviously had something wrong with the position. The ‘Lilac Girl’ has been there for a few years though. 🙂

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  3. Beautiful flowers Ann. They do look very similar. My hibiscus plants blooms last for only a day, maybe two at most, but they continue to bloom all summer. I guess these poppies only bloom once a season. What a shame as they are gorgeous!

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    1. I just wish they’d slow down a bit! (Come to think of it, I would be happy for all of the flowers here to linger on a bit more – hate it when they’re gone!)

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