Re: poppy question
- To: <perennials@mallorn.com>
- Subject: Re: poppy question
- From: "* a* A* <e*@enterprise.net>
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 18:16:16 -0000
>Is a shirley poppy a kind of oriental poppy? Someone gave me some shirley
>poppy seeds, and I am trying to get info on them so I will grow them
>correctly. Is there another name I can reference them under?
Shirley poppies are a selected strain of the wild cornflower poppy (papaver
rhoeas) in the UK. The wild ones all have red, delicate flowers and fine
green leaves, a cornfield full of them is a stunning sight although less
common than it used to be due to use of selective weed killers. They are
very hardy annuals here.
The Shirley strain was originally selected by the vicar ( The Reverend
Wilks) of Shirley (a small place near Croydon in Surrey) when, in 1880, he
spotted a wild poppy with pale edges to the petals. He took seed back to his
garden and over several years he selected to develop a delightful range of
pastel coloured ( pink, apricot, salmon) poppies with white edges to the
petals (this is called 'picotee'). I grow them here and they self seed every
year, although they do tend to revert towards the wild type unless you keep
selecting by removing plants of the unwanted ones quickly.
They are loved by bees and other flying polinators in my garden. Each flower
is short lived but there are always more to replace them. Many 'Shirley'
mixtures now include both doubles and singles. A real English cottage garden
plant!
Alison in North Wales UK
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