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boxlizzie

Anyone know what this poppy flower is and where to find seeds?

2 years ago

I got in a trade in like 2006. Have no idea what happened to my seeds. Not typically a poppy fan, but this particular one was absolutely gorgeous! I have looked on google and can't find anything close enough. The seed baggie from the trader said: "Opium Poppy hot pink with purple center".




Comments (20)

  • 2 years ago

    going by the color it does look like a Papaver somniferum (or opium poppy),

    in some areas/ countries their trade is not allowed,

    sometimes it is offered as "arranger`s poppy" or some such.


    I got some from some other garden nuts and just grow it for fun


    if you stored the seed in a cool spot it still might grow, IME poppy seeds can store for a long time

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    The seeds of P somniferum are not guaranteed to produce flowers like the parents. They are very promiscuous and variable, so even if you had sowed the seed as soon as you got it the resultant flowers could well have been a mixed bag of colours, irrespective of what the parent looked like.

  • 2 years ago

    I believe it is a peony flowered poppy, Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum. You can purchase seeds that should produce the desired color or close to it but as noted, saving seeds from this year's flowers can produce quite different results.

    Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum


  • 2 years ago

    Also, they inevitably revert to the single, washed out mauve of the species...even if you only grow one variety, so saving your own seed is only reliable for a few generations.

  • 2 years ago

    Thank you very much everyone! I don't have the seeds anymore, but that pic I just love and was trying to figure out what it was.

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Breadseed poppy is another alternative name to opium poppy that I have seen used repeatedly. I've seen horticultural forms coming true over subsequent generations many times. However, I have never recorded oirginal planting dates and how many years the uniformity was continued afterward. That said I have never seen a circus of mixed shapes and colors coming up all together in the same spot either.

  • 2 years ago

    I have a question for the Papaver people. Wouldn't a double poppy be sterile? From what I've read it seems that Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum aka Papaver paeoniflorum is usually sterile, or else it has a few seeds that don't grow true to the parent. The other question is, if it is sterile then how do venders produce new seeds that grow double? I'm really not sure of the exact taxonomy and subspecies and varieties. There seems to be 1 legit subspecies setigerum, and then several varieties and cultivars that I suspect are the result of selected breeding. I can see it would be easy to propagate if it was perennial, but being an annual, how do you produce double flowered poppy seed from sterile plants?

  • 2 years ago

    " That said I have never seen a circus of mixed shapes and colors coming up all together in the same spot either." Come and visit my allotment in June ,,,,,







    Jay, ime the doubles are not sterile. They produce the big fat pods full of seed just like the singles.

  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Come and visit my allotment in June

    And you know this to all be from an original sowing or self seeding of one variety? Because that is what I am talking about - spots where it's the same kind year after year. And only that kind, eiher from saved seed or self-sowing. Often double flowered, the total combination of circumstances carrying a strong implication that what has been coming back is the same as what was there at the start. For all I know perhaps even decades previously in any given instance.

  • 2 years ago

    The originals were double reds which have now been self seeding on my allotment for over 30 years. I never know what I’m going to get each year. To get a strain to stay true they would need to be grown in isolation as they would be at a plant breeder‘s site. The OP obtained seed from a trade so there is no knowing how or where the parent plant was grown.

  • 2 years ago

    Your vollunteers look nice floral! Single burgundys and double reds, with no washed out mauves. I can't seem to get any somniferum seeds to germinate. I've sowed them on open ground in autumn and chilled pots of seeds in the fridge. Only once, several years ago a couple germinated and were sickly looking and then flopped. I don't think the midwest is the ideal place to grow them. Maybe glibberic acid treatment would help? From what I've read, the extra petals in double flowers are reproductive parts that never formed, but I guess with double poppies they still have enough pollination apparatus to set seed. Perhaps the birds relish the seeds too?



  • 2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    I can’t offer any suggestions. They just grow themselves. If you look at the centre of the double one you’ll see that it has reproductive organs. I've never seen birds eating the seeds. But I collect them for cooking.

  • 2 years ago

    I have always grown only ’Lauren’s Grape’ and no other neighbor grows any variety. They always come back the same and I’ve never seen a double.

    tj

  • 2 years ago

    The isolation would explain that.

  • 2 years ago

    True - they are all over the site on my allotment so my attempt at growing the pure white singles didn't last longer than the second year. Californian poppies the same - no matter how carefully I try to isolate 'Ivory Castle' or 'Purple Gleam', they always revert to orange (which is also always welcome).


    It is essential that the seeds are uncovered Jay. I have also had difficulties with roemeria hybrida and a pale pink long-headed poppy so I guess they are pickier than I had imagined.

  • 2 years ago

    it resembles the poppy ‘Candy floss’ which is available from Swallowtail seeds.

  • 2 years ago

    Did you see the link I posted previously? onestoppoppyshoppe and Eden Brothers sells tons of different annual poppy seeds, including a wide assortment of doubles or peony flowered breadseed poppies. Very easy to grow - just broadcast the seed where you want them after last frost and stand back!! No covering required, no stratification and they will germinate in just a couple of weeks. All they want is some sun and well draining soil.

  • 2 years ago

    The largest selection of poppy seeds I’ve seen is at One Stop Poppy Shop. I’ve ordered online from them before and have been very satisfied. They aren’t cheap but I saw some similar to your picture in their papaver paeoniflorum collection. Good luck!

  • 2 years ago

    That supplier was linked above. The OP has not responded to replies.

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