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Friday, July 01, 2011

The Most Provocative Plant...

During the recent Wheat Ridge Garden Tour there was one plant in my garden that garnered the most curiosity and questions: Glaucium flavum, horned poppy.  Its alluring silvery-blue foliage and wanton orange flowers created quite a stir amongst my garden guests!

Sizzlin' silver foliage looks great all summer

Horned poppy is an import from western Europe that prefers light, sandy soil - it's become invasive in some coastal regions; it also goes by the name sea poppy.  It's a member of the poppy family, Papaveraceae, but is not of the genus Papaver, as are the more familiar oriental (P. orientale), alpine (P. alpinus) and Icelandic (P. nudicaule) poppies. (Our native, white flowering prickley poppies are of the genus Argemone.)

the new emerging foliage is quite "hairy"

Glaucium flavum is not a biennial, as I originally thought, but a short lived perennial. I let it go to seed in my garden and it jumps around from bed to bed.



A great accent plant for the xeric garden (if you can stand its flighty ways), it grows about 18 - 24 inches tall and flowers for several weeks from mid-June on. These plants are not widely available at garden centers, so best to grow them from seed, or beg one from a gardening friend (like I did!).  Then stand back, and enjoy the seduction of Glaucium flavum!
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4 comments:

  1. Desert Dweller12:38 PM MDT

    That Horned Poppy looks worth some reasearch from myself if it will grow down here, and if so, what type of site. Since it moves about, some here might not like it, but desert phobes don't matter that much, anyway! Looks like a color combo with some merit.

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  2. Jocelyn H. Chilvers1:58 PM MDT

    David, I did a quick on-line search a found several seed sources for this plant. Most often, though, it occurs with yellow flowers rather than orange, so be sure you are ordering exactly what you want...

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  3. Robert Webber1:24 PM MDT

    Jocelyn, Not going to comment on your pics any more. let us take it for granted that they are always fabulous? But thanks for this. Here in England some cynics go on about plants being tools and not mattering what you use in the landscape. Forget it. At least some of the time. This plant says a time to me. I have not grown it for years and loved seeing it again! Loved your idea of it hopping and its flighty ways! That understanding is what makes the garden work well and the detail of the landscape sing. Thanks once again. As always Fab Post.
    Best
    R

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  4. Jocelyn H. Chilvers8:22 AM MDT

    Thank YOU, Robert - I always enjoy hearing your perspective on plants and design. I totally agree, sometimes plants can have very personal meaning.

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