Opium Poppy Black Peony - Papaver somniferum

Fascinating, voluptuous, the large pompon flowers of this Opium Poppy or Papaver somniferum 'Black Peony' are so dark red that they look black. They are all frilly and borne on tall stems above a beautiful bluish-green foliage. They are followed by very ornamental fruits that prove very useful in dry bouquets. Its blooms rival those of shrub peonies in beauty and magnificence. This undemanding plant is easy to sow directly and is superb in flowerbeds or borders. It is a generous plant that will easily naturalize in light, well-prepared soils, in the sun.

The annual poppy 'Black Peony' is a recent and original horticultural variety, belonging to the Papaveraceae or poppy family. It is derived from Papaver somniferum var. nigrum, which is found in the mountains of Asia, but also in Europe, on limestone soils where poppies usually grow. This plant, which probably originated in the regions between the Mediterranean and Anatolia, has given rise to a multitude of varieties that have long been cultivated for ornamental purposes. 'Black Peony' has a beautiful, undulating, silver-green foliage with beautifully lobed, elliptical leaves with scalloped margins. From its 30 to 40 cm wide clump of foliage, tall stems emerge from June to August, bearing sumptuous solitary flowers 90 cm above the ground. The many petals are ruffled around the edges and torn like a silky cloth in the centre of the flower. Their colour is a dark purple-brown, appearing blacker in the shade and the centre of the flower is garnished with a bouquet of black stamens around a yellow disc, like those of the common poppy. Summer blooms give way to a characteristic fruit, filled with small very ornamental black seeds which take on a slate blue sheen as it dries. Their aspect changes with the light because of the film of crystallized wax that protects their surfaces. Opium poppies have a taproot that is not very resistant to transplanting, so it is best to sow them in place.

Comfortable in sophisticated gardens, in medieval-type gardens and gardens without gardeners, opium poppies make it possible to quickly and effortlessly create oceans of infinitely delicate flowers that seem to dance on the silvery foam of their foliage, creating a stirring spectacle of vivid, dark or pastel colours. Although they are not very long-lasting in bouquets, the flowers of the opium poppy 'Black Peony' have an irresistible charm in flowerbeds with bearded irises, tall daisies or the moving leaves of grasses. This annual plant, like the cosmos, has no equivalent for occupying the open sunny spaces between annuals or large perennials such as sunflowers, whose flowers take over later in the season.

Once the flowering period is over, the fruit remains, providing a precious asset for dry bouquets, but also the poppy straw, which is often perceived in more wild areas as a majestic element of the garden or a somewhat enigmatic remnant of summer.