PlantFiles: Opium Poppy, Breadseed Poppy, Lettuce Leaf Poppy
Papaver somniferum

An annual that has been cultivated (and naturalised) for so long no one is sure of it's region of origin.

Has oblong, lobed, blue green leaves. Bears large, saucer or bowl shaped, red, lavender/purple, white or pink flowers. After flowers come the decorative seed heads hich are initially blue-green, drying to light brown.

Flowers mainly June-August.

Loves well-drained, fertile soil in sun.

Excellent reseeding annual.

In Central Texas, poppy seeds sown in Fall will germinate in early winter and form basal rosettes. An ice storm on February 25th did not cause significant damage. My plants bolted up and bloomed in March -- spectacular, but for only a couple of weeks. By late May they had already produced ripe seed pods. These annuals do not stand alone well (in zone 8 - hot) but contribute beautifully to a mixed flower border.

I've only seen these plants once, in a large garden in Point Reyes, California, where in September the beautiful flowers were turning into huge seed pods you could shake like a rattle. Spectacular, colorful flowers.

I found an opium poppy growing in an area used in the past as refuse for grass clippings, wood, etc. I was taken by the beauty of the plant, and began trying to identify it. I found it on this website. After seeing it a 2nd time I suspected it was of the poppy family. I live in Illinois, the midwest and really never expected to see one growing in this state or in a wooded area.

In the neighborhood of Brooklyn NY where I used to live, Greenpoint, there were several importers of seeds and spices. Wherever a bag of bread seed poppies spilled, they sprang up in the cracks of the sidewalks. They always flowered lavender, with paler markings near the center, and had crude weedy-looking foliage. Very vigorous--I assume these seeds had been irradiated or fumigated during the importing process, but they were still viable.

I've grown a few varieties of this type of poppy over the years, and the flowers are always a beautiful springtime sight. I only wish the growing habit was a bit tidier and easier to deal with, the plants tend to break or topple easily if left unsupported. Each flower lasts for only a single day, but each plant usually produces several blooms in succession over a 2-3 week period.

The only pests I've encountered when growing this plant are aphids. The black aphids love this plant and can cause yellowing and deformed leaves and buds if left unchecked. Powdery mildew can also be a problem but it usually doesn't do too much damage unless it's an unusually cool, wet spring.

Keep in mind if you let this plant go to seed you will have poppies popping up for years to come (all over the place! lol).

Papaver somniferums are easy to grow satisfying annuals which produce attractive blue/green foliage (like cabbage) and pretty flowers. Papaver sominferums come in such an array of colors and shapes they should be easy and / fit into any garden. Pods are also decorative and used in dried arrangements. Some varieties i.e. blue Hungarian and Peshwar/persian white (white seeded) are particularly good for eating (poppy seeds) (hence the name "breadseed poppy". It is also the poppy used for opium (sapped extracted from seed pods after "milking" cutting the pod and waiting for sap to come out.... then collecting) but I'm sure most gardeners don't use it for that reason! :)

Blossoms are gorgeous when they first open, intense purple with an interior that is almost chartreuse.

Alas, we had an uncharacteristically rainy spring, and all my poppies are badly infected with powdery mildew. I get good bloms for about a week, and then the mildew hits the buds. But I will plant this again next year.

Beautiful plant, but you'll pay little attention to the blooms because of the slugs if you live in a wet area! Perhaps the slugs get something other than food our of it :)

This poppy received a neutral from me only because
of the legalities it comes with.

Quite frankly, I find the breadseed poppy to be gorgeous.
The sad thing is that it can be used (and don't ask me how)
to make drugs. Those of us who merely wish to grow
the plant for it's beauty are subject to the rules, regulations
and laws created because of those who have other
intentions.

I grew these last year and worried that I would be made a
public spectacle, I could envision my name in the public
record section of the newspaper for possession of
narcotics or something. Sad, but true, so I mowed them
down and instead now grow Oriental Poppies.

But if you feel you live in an area where the authorities
have a bit of sense about them, plant away.

They are beautiful. Sigh.

My sister-in-law had a dried floral arrangement with some striking large pods in it. I figured it was some type of dried poppy pod, and I made a small hole and extracted some seeds to see if they'd grow. To my delight, they did grow quite profusely in my garden in the New England. I waited too long to pick the pods for drying however, and they burst open and dropped their seeds. I think you should pick the pods while still green and hang them to dry if you want the pods for floral arrangements, rather than waiting for them to dry on the stem. They like full sun - mine were in afternoon sun only and were leggy and needed staking to avoid flopping over. While trying to identify this plant on-line, I found websites where people describe using the pods (purchased at a craft store!) to make an opium tea. One person even became quite addicted to it, and described ordering large quanties of the dried pods from on-line sources. I think you'd have to grow many more poppies than would be possible in the average garden in order to get any kind of habit going, but be warned that there is abuse potential with this plant.