A few months ago, I had a customer who showed me a long line of photos on her mobile phone. The photos subject was exclusively of an extended massed planting of Flanders red poppies. She was so impressed by the show she wished to replicate it. Upon asking her where this garden is, she gave the approximate address. Instantly I knew where it was. It was in fact my very own garden. Filled with pride I explained to the lady that I was the actual owner. The following day I offered the lady an envelope of a thousand or so seeds. Happy as can be, she merrily skipped off with total glee to spread the success of poppies further afield.
In spring my grand red poppy spectacle runs the entire length of my front garden which borders a major road. When in full bloom the hundreds of poppies create a long, crazy, riotous streak of a flaming rich blood red, a blaze of fire and a vampire’s idea of pure heaven. The flower’s petals, though tissue thin, possess a luxuriant glossy sheen and there are very few other red flowers as sincere and true in their red colouring to match them. Then just to create that little bit of more beauty are the contrasting ink black centre of the flower. Personally, as a garden design it is an unforgettable statement.
History:
We all recognise the flower emblem and the significance of the red poppy. It began with the unforgettable hellish and horrific trench warfare in Flanders, France in the First World War. These trenches were surrounded with the naturalised flaming red poppies. The well-known poem begins “In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow,” and ends with the lines “if ye break faith with us who die / We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / in Flanders’ fields”. Today the red poppy has become a universal symbol for the remembrance of the fallen soldiers who sadly lost their lives in the service of their country.
Cultivation
The wonderful thing about this annual planting of poppies is that is completely free and achieved with the minimum of effort. Every late spring, when the petals have fallen and the pods have ripened to just dry, I collect their seeds.
Half of the crop are picked to be stored in airtight jars as gifts for friends and the other half are whimsically strewn across the long bed by shaking and rattling the seed pods in preparation for the following year of the self-seeding poppies. I also cover the soil with generous carpets of Seamungus and Rooster Booster to continually replenish and improve the quality of the soil.
Landscaping:
This year I have a new design plan. I believe it will be just as easy and carefree, just as reliable in their massed appeal and still as cheap as chips. As the poppies are finished for the season, I will immediately be planting the seeds of nasturtiums, to create another long blaze of fiery colours to shine right throughout the long hot summer months. Every year in late autumn, these seeds in turn will become dormant, the frosted back foliage will provide a mulch to further enrich the soil, and then, in turn, they will be replaced by another bountiful cycle of the red Flanders poppies. I hope it all works out.
As an aside, the height of the poppies are a good one metre high and thankfully disguise what has been lazily ignored behind them, such as my sculptured santolina hedge and the bank of the my double hedge of roses.
Happy gardening, good luck and have fun,
Ned McDowell