Papaver orientale Seeds | Oriental Poppy
LATIN NAME: Papaver orientale
COMMON NAME: Oriental Poppy
Plant Profile
Papaver orientale comes from the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey and northern Iran, where it grows on rocky slopes and in alpine meadow at high altitude. It is a clump-forming perennial with deeply cut, hairy leaves and stiff, bristly stems 60 to 90 cm tall, each carrying a single flower 10 to 15 cm across.
The flowers are the largest of any hardy perennial: bowl-shaped, with four or six overlapping petals in scarlet, orange, pink or white, and a black or dark purple blotch at the base of each petal. The centre is a mass of dark stamens around a green ovary, and the whole thing looks like a paper flower that has been opened by hand.
After flowering the plant does something that surprises gardeners who do not know it: the leaves yellow and die back, and the plant disappears by midsummer. That dormancy is an adaptation to the dry summers of its native range, and it is the reason oriental poppies are best planted among later perennials that will cover the gap.
Science & Biotechnology
Papaver orientale is one of the parents of the garden oriental poppies, the other being P. bracteatum, a species from the same region that is important for a different reason: it produces thebaine, a precursor used in the manufacture of semi-synthetic opioids. That chemistry has made P. bracteatum a controlled plant in several countries.
The genus Papaver contains about 100 species, including the opium poppy, P. somniferum, and the corn poppy, P. rhoeas. The alkaloids that make some species useful and some dangerous are concentrated in the latex, which in P. orientale is present but low in morphine and related compounds, so the ornamental poppies are not controlled.
The black blotch at the base of the petal is a nectar guide, and it is produced by a dense concentration of anthocyanins over a dark background. In some cultivars the blotch bleeds outward into the petal, producing the picotee and flared forms that are popular in the trade. The plant is also a parent of the garden hybrids sold as oriental poppies, and it has been crossed with P. bracteatum to produce forms with larger flowers and a longer season. Near kin on the list are Papaver nudicaule, Papaver croceum and Dicranostigma leptopodum, all Papaveraceae.
Uses & Benefits
It is a plant for the front or middle of a border, where its early-summer flowers can be seen before the later perennials take over. It combines well with hardy geraniums, with nepeta and with ornamental grasses, all of which will grow over the space it leaves when it goes dormant.
The flowers are superb for cutting if they are seared at the base with a flame, since the stems bleed a milky sap that otherwise blocks the water. Treated that way they last four or five days, and the seed heads that follow are handsome enough to leave standing into winter.
The cultivar Beauty of Livermere has enormous scarlet flowers; Patty’s Plum is a soft plum-pink that is unlike any other poppy; Allegro is a compact orange-red; Black and White is white with a black blotch. All of them are selections of this species or of its hybrids with P. bracteatum. The seed heads that follow are almost as good as the flowers, and they are one of the few that look right in a winter garden, standing through frost with their caps intact.
Growing from Seed
Sow in late winter or early spring at 15 to 18 °C, on the surface and only just covered, since the seed needs light. The seed comes up over a fortnight to a month, and unevenly. A period of cold stratification improves the result.
The plant has a deep taproot and resents transplanting, so sow into deep cells or direct where it is to flower. Plant out 45 to 60 cm apart in full sun and well-drained soil. It tolerates poor ground and needs no feeding; rich soil produces soft growth and fewer flowers.
Do not cut the foliage back after flowering; let it die down naturally, because the plant is building reserves for next year. Mark the spot so that you do not dig into it in autumn. Divide clumps in late summer, when the plant is dormant, and replant the young roots immediately; they resent drying out.
Our Take
Oriental poppies are the most spectacular flowers in a hardy border and the most awkward plants to place, because they take up space for three months and then vanish. Plant them where something else will grow over them, and enjoy the six weeks when they are the best thing in the garden. Do not move them unless you have to, and do not cut the foliage back. Give them sun, sharp drainage and a marker, and they will come back for twenty years.
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