Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Bread-seed Poppy

I've never planted these annual bread-seed poppies (Papaver somniferum), but every year they "pop" up in my gardens. A former owner of our century-old farmhouse must have planted them...but who knows when?

For a couple of years we didn't even know the poppies were here. They were patiently lying in wait.

Then one spring my husband dug a big circle about a foot deep to construct a brick patio. Well, he abandoned the project for a few days, for whatever reason, allowing some time for weeds to sprout. The seedlings looked like lettuce so we waited to see what would happen next.

VOILA!

And guess what! Poppies are members of the same family as lettuce. But lettuce is nowhere near as pretty.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

the red poppy is beautiful, it even attract the little guy...

Robyn said...

Hey! I was just making dinner and I thought of you! I keep coming across orange cauliflower at the grocery store, so I googled it, and I discovered that it is a mutant that was originally found in Bradford. You should do a story. Unless there's a competing blog, West Gwillimbury WOW (maybe I should google for that too).
The cauliflower is awesome -- tastes like regular cauliflower, but the color of cheese curls.

You should post a recipe! Cauliflower au graitin: all the color, half the cheese! And presumably more beta carotene, too.
Robyn

Shammickite said...

I'd like to see a picture of the circular brick patio, if it ever got finished... because we did exactly the same 2 years ago. A circular brick and concrete patio. I'll have to post a pic of it one day.
Meanwhile I'm glad you are enjoying my posts about England. I really had such a good trip, met up with friends and relatives, and did lots of tourist-style sightseeing.
More posts to come... aren't you bored with England yet?
OOOPs nearly forgot... lovely poppy picture. I've never had any luck with growing poppies. Did you know if you burn the ends of the stalks when using them as cut flowers, the poppy won't droop and will stay alive much longer?

dot said...

I wish some would pop up in my yard. Very pretty!

Bob Crowe said...

I'm not usually a big fan of floral photography (although I've posted a bit on my blog) but the color and composition of this blows me away. The delicate pink edge dances on the green background. Very good work.

Tash said...

You always take such beautiful photos of flowers and this one is truly fabulous - with the color, the texture & the visitor! Btw, my "Y"ellow flowering tree (Golden Medallion) had no fragrance.

Kerri Farley said...

Wow! What an amazing shot!
I LOVE this...and the little bee you caught too!

Darla said...

I think I'll be a bee in my next life and live in a bread-seed poppy.

Beautiful

Darla

Bergson said...

an attack of poppy very coloured

Anonymous said...

Beautiful flower. I have tried to plant red poppy seed here and haven't had much luck.
I enjoyed seeing your lovely flower.

Mary said...

Hi there, new to your blog. That is just gorgeous! I have read of someone actually germinating the seeds from the top of her poppy seed bagel, and getting flowers! In the US, I believe it is illegal to sell the seeds of papaver somniferum because it is related to the poppy used for heroin.

Your photo is beautiful! I'm going to wander through your past posts now... :)

Rose said...

WOW! This one is really, really beautiful. It could not be any more perfect. Glad I scrolled on down. I didn't realize I had missed any...

Catherine said...

I love poppies, the flower, the color, even their name!
The problem with them is that they sprout every where except where you want them to sprout. I guess it's exactly the reason why I love them, they're pure wild flowers.
I love they fragility, the paper aspect of ther petals.
Thanks to offer us that beautiful macro, that way we get the flower without making it withered. You can keep the bee! I'm allergic to.

KOSTAS said...

Amazing photograph, so much clean I have not seen in other blog!
The honey bee is (apis mellifera macedonica)!

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.