Poppy time

One of my favourite flowers is the poppy, Papa er.

Different shapes, sizes, and colours.

Oriental poppies (large reds and pinks), californian poppies (small and orange) , Welsh (yellows),                               Himalayan (largish, pale blue)                                      wild British poppies (reds, pinks and white), some are called Shirley’s mixed or ladybird with black splodge.

Their petals are enclosed in bulbous green capsules until they open to display paper petals that unfurl into lovely flowers. A central large seed head like a pepper shaker is left to dry and mature after the petals fall.

Poppy juice is collected and has been used in medicine over the ages, but this can be dangerous. Don’t do anything but admire the flowers beauty.

Wild poppies

I was discussing poppies with a friend today who wanted to find out what a certain poppy was. I identified it as an oriental poppy. She then showed me another one which had a great ruff of petals. I thought it was a double so checked on the Internet and it was. I also love many different poppies. Californian, Himalayan, Welsh, I’m sure there are more types than that but I’m not sure of them. What I really like is the variety of colours and shapes they come in. This photo was taken above Bovisand Bay in Devon. I took a few photos of them. The grass was so dry it could have been hay.