Can anyone tell me what this is please?

[rary]

Well Jay I dont think my services will be required, though I am no expert on poppies, I will have to wait fo VCs expert opinion

That aside the flower looks very nice, and I think it would look great in a bunch, so it would be worth while collecting the seed and sowing them next year. if you have an area that is usualy quite wild that would be ideal, I have one its jokingly called the veg plot.

[Jay22]

What...you don't think it's what she thought it was?

[veggiechicken]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum

[Jay22]

Should I be growing this? Just a thought but do poppies not usually flower in the spring?

[Martin H]

Should I be growing this? Just a thought but do poppies not usually flower in the spring?

It's a fine, decorative plant so I tend to leave it if it pops up somewhere that isn't in the way.

You can use the seeds in cooking / baking. I understand that our summers aren't hot enough to get a usable crop of opium gum from the unripe seed pods, though, even if you happen to have a variety bred for the purpose!

They produce enormous numbers of seeds that will stay dormant in the soil for many years and germinate when exposed to light and warmth. I find they mostly tend to come up after Easter and flower in the summer.

[ESBkevin]

The seed of the poppy can live in the soil for up to 100 years! This is apparently why the flanders fields all became covered in poppys once they were churned up by the shells in WW1 and exposed to light and moisture. Yours could have been there for a long time or been 'planted' by a bird this year. Be vary careful because they do spread vigorously. Lovely looking think though.

[rary]

What...you don't think it's what she thought it was?

Jay, the mind can do marvellous things, I have seen folk tippsy on flavoured watter, but me I dont do well on opiates, they make me violently sick. Before you ask VC. it was after my operations

[veggiechicken]

I wouldn't dream of asking, rary. What a man does in the privacy of his home is none of my business

PS wanna show me your scar?

[rary]

I wouldn't dream of asking, rary. What a man does in the privacy of his home is none of my business

PS wanna show me your scar?

Ah wisny at home
and no , I would be to afraid you couldn`t take the excitement

[Jay22]

Well it didn't last long, the petals are off and now we have a seed pod.