Papaver rhoeas Dawn Chorus Mix - seeds

The 'Dawn Chorus Mix' Poppy, known by its Latin name Papaver rhoeas, is a blend of double and semi-double varieties in various soft and pastel colours, including shades of red, pink, pale pink, and salmon pink. These modest-sized annual poppies reach a height of no more than 40 cm and are undemanding plants that grow and self-seed quietly in the sun. They can tolerate poor, even heavy, chalky, and degraded soil. Their sowing is foolproof.

The corn poppy, also known as field poppy or simply poppy, is an annual plant from the Papaveraceae family, native to Asia Minor. 'Dawn Chorus Mix' is a blend of plants derived from this lovely "weed," or more precisely from the 'Shirley Poppy'. We owe the wonderful selections offered in seed catalogues today to the English painter and plant enthusiast Cedric Morris (1889-1982), who used to wander the Sussex countryside in search of the most beautiful poppies that had escaped from gardens. These plants grow rapidly, reaching a height of 40 cm in flower and a width of 30 cm in a single season. Despite their delicate appearance, with thin, rough, and sparsely branched stems, these plants form clumps of alternate leaves, divided into narrow and toothed lobes, whose full power is revealed when they inevitably emerge from freshly disturbed soil, from seeds that can sometimes be very old. When the stem is broken, it releases a white, milky sap. The summer flowering extends from June to August, depending on the climate and sowing date. The open cup-shaped flowers have one or sometimes several rows of silky, slightly crumpled petals, either solid or bicoloured, with lighter edges, in various refined shades. The centre is adorned with numerous stamens with blackish-blue anthers. The flowers give way to capsules containing a large number of seeds, dispersed by the wind.

Poppies are moving and poetic flowers, with an apparent fragility that hides an indefatigable pioneer. They thrive in wild gardens, weekend gardens, or cottage gardens. Although not very long-lasting in bouquets, poppy flowers complement larger flowers perfectly in flower beds, such as peonies, garden irises, or simple flowers like large daisies or the graceful foliage of grasses. This annual plant, like cosmos, is unmatched for filling embankments around new buildings and open spaces between annuals or large perennials. If you want to make bouquets with its flowers, you will need to cauterize the stems where they were cut, thus preventing the flowers from wilting during the day.