Gardening Plant Encyclopedia Annual Poppy Flowers By Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln Instagram Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on May 29, 2019 Share Tweet Pin Email Poppy Flowers Overview Description With their glorious crepe-paperlike blooms in a wide variety of brilliant hues, annual poppies add a ton of color to the garden. They're easy to grow and often self-seed, allowing them to appear year after year. It's best to grow them from seed directly in the ground as most do not transplant well. They work well in cottage-style landscapes scattered among late spring-blooming perennials. Genus Name Papaver_ spp. Common Name Poppy Flowers Plant Type Annual Light Sun Height 1 to 3 feet Width 6 to 12 inches Flower Color Orange, Red, White Foliage Color Blue/Green, Chartreuse/Gold Season Features Fall Bloom, Spring Bloom, Summer Bloom Special Features Good for Containers Zones 10, 11, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Propagation Seed Problem Solvers Drought Tolerant More varieties for Poppy Breadseed poppy Papaver somniferum is the largest annual poppy, reaching more than 3 feet tall. In summer, it bears flowers in shades of pink, lilac, mauve, red, or white, followed by large seed pods that are good for dried arrangements. Use the dried seeds in baking, too. Corn poppy Papaver rhoeas grows up to 3 feet tall and 1 foot wide. In summer, it bears brilliant orange-red flowers, sometimes marked with a black base on the petals. It is also called field poppy, a reference to its tendency to naturalize in open fields. Iceland poppy Papaver croceum is a short-lived perennial usually grown as an annual. It features yellow, white, orange, or pink flowers in spring and summer. It grows 1 foot tall and is often also called Papaver nudicaule. Zones 2-8 'Mother of Pearl' poppy Papaver rhoeas 'Mother of Pearl' is a variety of corn poppy also sometimes called 'Fairy Wings'. It produces delicate pink or lilac flowers. 'Peony Flowered' poppy Papaver somniferum 'Peony Flowered' is a breadseed poppy variety with large, frilly double flowers in pink, salmon, purple, maroon, or white. Shirley poppies Papaver rhoeas Shirley Series are corn poppy selections with single, semidouble, or double blooms in shades of yellow, pink, rose, orange, or red. Many sport bicolor or picotee petals. Plant Poppy with How to Pick Healthy Plants Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit