Four of my favourite poppies are annuals :
These are the Shirley poppies and can be sown direct into the ground, though in my sluggy garden I start them off in cells in the greenhouse and plant them out while still quite small, before the long tap root has formed. Literally hundreds of flowers from a dozen or so plants, in a delicious array of colours. (See also photos a few days ago)
Cedric Morris poppies are another annual - there is also an oriental poppy of the same name - and Mother of Pearl is a very similar mixture.
They are of such quiet and subtle colours they are hard to describe - exquisite, and perhaps best appreciated grown in a different area than the dazzling Shirleys. (more photos 1 July 2010)
Papaver somniferum is another annual which I hope will self seed for me, as it does in my friend Maggie's garden. I bought one this summer of a lovely lilac/plum colour, but no photo yet.
I sometimes sow a few common poppies, papaver rhoeas, in plugs to pop into the mini meadow, along with a few cornflowers for a bit of zing. (It doesn't work to scatter poppy seeds onto grassed areas - they need bare soil....)
..next two more perennial poppies....
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