Papaver orientale
Oriental poppy
- Height × spread
- 0.8m × 1.2m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Colder than -20C (RHS H7)
- Flowers
- Spring, Summer
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This robust perennial is grown for its stunning flowers, a vermilion that strikes you at a hundred yards! The flowers are huge, circular cups, held on long stalks. The flower heads tend to flop and the plant, like other oriental poppies, is generally untidy in its habit. In their flourishing state they can extend their big brash leaves over their neighbours, sometimes to the point of suffocation. Afterwards, dying back early, they leave this large bare patch in the border! The partial remedy to this problem is to cut them to the ground so they can regrow later in a more rigid and dignified manner.
- Flower colour
- Red
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Stem colour
- Green, Grey
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- No
- Shape
- Dome
- Height
- 0.8m
- Spread
- 1.2m
- Season of interest
- Spring, Summer
- Flowers in
- Spring, Summer
- Evergreen
- Deciduous
- Garden style
- Wild flower meadow, Seaside garden, Prairie garden, Gravel garden, Cottage garden
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun
- Soil type
- Chalk, Gravelly soil, Loam (normal), Poor soil, Sandy soil
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Well drained soil, Dry soil, Drought resistant
- Hardiness
- Colder than -20C (RHS H7)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Use for
- Bee attraction
- Maintenance
- Easycare – low/no maintenance
- Hazards
- No
Spring
Spring-Autumn · Outdoors
Water in dry periods
Established plants in the ground can cope with 7-10 days of dryness, and shrubs often manage 2 to 3 weeks. Water one section of the garden thoroughly each day rather than a little everywhere. Check plants in pots more often, especially in hot weather.
Spring - early-mid · Planting
Divide when too large
The plant can be divided if it becomes too large or another plant is required. This may involve physically dividing the clump in two, removing offsets or small bulbs or dividing rhizomes. The new plants can be grown in pots or planted in the ground.
Summer
Summer - early · Outdoors
Feed a general fertiliser
Where plants have moderate needs for nutrients, they can simply be given a general feed, fairly early in the growth season so that the growth has plenty of time to harden off before the cold weather.
Give plants a general boost with the application of a general purpose fertiliser which is spread around the root area of the plant, with amounts as directed on the feed label.
Planting & general
Compost · Planting
Multi-purpose compost
Use a good quality peat-free multi-purpose compost when growing in pots and containers.
Found in
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Papaver orientale
Oriental poppy
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