Common Names
Lady Bird Poppy

Botanical Name
Papaver communatum

Plant Family
Papaveraceae (Poppy Family)

Life Cycle
Annual

Native Range
Europe.

Hardiness Zone
Zones 2-11. They are hardy to zone 5 for fall sowing (but can be grown in all zones as an annual). 

Habit
Lady Bird Poppies grow to about 18” tall and 8” wide. The flowers are bright scarlet red with a large black spot at the base of each petal.

Sun/Soil
Full sun with moist, well-drained soil.

Germination/Sowing
The seeds can be scattered on the ground in the fall or early spring, or started in flats in the spring and transplanted out.

Growing/Care
Poppies need little care and if left to go to seed in your garden it will naturize and you can be sure to have a many seedlings return each year on their own.

Harvesting
The petals can be gathered as they open during the summer months. The seeds can be gathered once the seed heads have turned brown and the seeds are ripe, dark, and hard.

Culinary Uses
Besides being incredibly gorgeous, the poppies are also used as both a food and a medicine. The seeds are the edible part and don't contain any of the medicinal alkaloids. They are used, just as other poppy seeds, in baking to add a unique nutty flavour to breads and cakes. The leaves can also be cooked as a green in a similar way as spinach.

Medicinal Uses
The petals of Field Poppy contain medicinal alkaloids, notably rhoeadine, and can be gathered and dried for tea, made into a syrup, or tinctured in alcohol. The petals lend a deep mysterious purple plum colour to the preparations. They can be used as a mild pain reliever and sedative (think opium poppy but milder and much less narcotic). Gentle and calming to the nervous system, Poppy is helpful to treat over-activity and nervousness in children. Also useful for calming coughs.

Themes
Attracts Pollinators, Deer Resistant, Drought Tolerant, Apothecary Garden, Container Garden, Low Maintenance.