Poppy Pandora Seeds - Papaver rhoeas

Papaver rhoeas Pandora is a magnificent field poppy whose double flowers with ruffled petals display a broad range of red hues that go from a very dark red to an almost white pink, to a pale grey-pink. All are different: some may be variegated or striped, while others are speckled or spotted. Field poppies are very undemanding, growing and self-seeding readily in the sun. They can make do with a mediocre, even heavy, calcareous and degraded soil. Discover this very uncommon variety!

The field poppy, also known as the common poppy, or simply as poppy, is an annual plant of the family Papaveraceae that is native to Asia Minor. Papaver 'Pandora' is a selection derived from this adorable weed. The plants germinate in spring, flower in summer and then die after having produced seeds. Fast growing, in one season they reach a height of 50 cm when in flower and a width of 30 cm. The slender stems are rough and sparsely branched. The leaves are arranged in an alternate manner and are divided into narrow, toothed lobes. Their true vigour is revealed when they inevitably emerge from freshly overturned soil, germinating from seeds that are sometimes very old. Broken stems exude a white, milky sap. They flower in summer, from June to August, depending on the climate and the time of sowing. The flowers are shaped into open cups that present several rows of silky, slightly crumpled petals in a broad range of very refined, red hues, and inferior petals that are finely veined with grey. The colours change progressively as the flowers blossom. The centre bears numerous stamens with bluish-black anthers. The flowers give way to fruits in the form of capsules containing numerous seeds that the wind will scatter.

The poppy 'Pandora' is stunning in wild gardens, cloister gardens and gardens without gardeners, making it possible to quickly and effortlessly create oceans of flowers of poignant simplicity, harmonizing perfectly with the summer light. Although they are not very long-lasting in bouquets, poppy flowers are extremely charming in beds when combined with bearded irises, tall daisies, large peonies or the swaying leaves of grasses. This annual plant, like the cosmos and love-in-a-mist, has no equal when it comes to covering sunny embankments around new constructions and bright, open spaces between annuals or big, late flowering perennials such as daylilies whose blooms take over later in the season. If you still want to make bouquets with these flowers, the stems should be cauterized where they have been cut in order to prevent the flowers from fading during the day.