Poppies are among a home gardener’s favorite herbaceous plants because of their colorful flowers.
As such, it’s no surprise that growing a garden with poppies is one of the easiest ways to beautify your property—that is, of course, if you know how to grow them properly.
Poppies generally bloom during the early days of spring, which is around the last week of March to the first week of April. However, expect different varieties of poppies to also have different blooming seasons.
Different Types of Poppies and Their Blooming Seasons
Poppies will provide your garden with vibrant blooms in orange, white, red, and many more.
In growing this plant, you will want to make sure that the variants you choose bloom right at the time when you want them to.
This quick list of the different types of poppies and their blooming seasons will help you with that quest.
Oriental Poppy
Growing up to three feet tall, the oriental poppy or papaver Orientale produces colorful flowers around eight to nine inches wide.
You will first see these flowers in May and will last until June.
The oriental poppy is a perennial plant, which is probably why it is one of the most common ones you will find in home gardens.
It produces the most vibrant four- to six-inch flowers with colors ranging from blood-red to plum-pink and white with pink edges.
The flowers will wither at the start of summer or around July, and then the plant will die.
It’s only until the beginning of winter that you will see new growth in the oriental poppy.
Bloodroot
The bloodroot is another type of poppy that produces flowers in spring. However, these flowers are smaller at just around two inches wide.
They are usually color white, but on rare occasions, they bloom in light pink.
A bloodroot’s flower often appears in early spring, and its blooming season lasts for about two weeks.
Contrary to other poppies, the bloodroot does not produce stems. The flower stalks, along with the leaves, grow directly from the soil.
The bloodroot will turn dormant by late July or early August and will only bloom again during spring.
Flanders Poppy
Unlike most of the poppies on this list, the Flanders poppy blooms in late spring.
It’s also called the Shirley poppy or corn poppies, and its blooming season can even reach mid-summer.
While the Flanders poppy can grow up to 18 inches tall, its flowers are only around two inches across.
They are often scarlet red, and you’d probably see four to six petals in each bloom.
You will find Flanders poppies in North America, but they don’t do well in the climates of the South.
Himalayan Poppy
Most garden poppies come from the Papaver genus, but the Himalayan poppy isn’t one of them.
Even so, they still belong to the Papaveraceae family, which is why they are also considered poppies.
Its flowers can grow up to five inches wide and produce a distinct sky-blue color.
One significant difference it has with other poppies is that it’s relatively difficult to grow.
The Himalayan poppy’s blooming season starts around the same time as the Flanders poppy, which is in late spring.
However, the flowers usually only last until early summer.
Greater Celandine
Many green thumbs out there do not deliberately plant the greater celandine poppy.
One of the many reasons for this is that it’s highly invasive.
The greater celandine poppy can self-seed, meaning it can grow naturally from seeds that have dropped.
It can easily outcompete other species, making it challenging to grow with other poppies.
The greater celandine grows between one to two feet and produces yellow flowers about one to four inches wide.
You will often see these flowers mid-spring to mid-summer, which is around May to August.
Opium Poppy
The opium poppy grows around 30 to 40 inches in temperate or warm climates.
This means you will probably see noticeable growth in this poppy during the summer or as early as the end of spring.
While poppies will make your garden beautiful, you should avoid growing the opium poppy.
If you’ve ever heard of the opium drug, this plant is where it came from.
If that doesn’t ring a bell, other opiates such as heroin are also from this poppy, which is why it’s illegal to grow throughout the United States.
Plume Poppy
You will often see cup-shaped flowers in garden poppies, but the plume poppy is an exception.
The flowers of this poppy appear in long plumes beside the scalloped leaves.
While this variant is one of the easiest poppies to grow, it’s also one of the most unattractive.
On some occasions, they can be pretty invasive, like the greater celandine.
The plume poppy grows significantly taller than other poppies at five to eight feet.
Additionally, instead of blooming in spring, the flowers appear from mid to late summer, making the plume poppy one of the most peculiar variants of the Papaveraceae family.
Iceland Poppy
Iceland poppies prefer cooler climates. They grow as annuals in northern parts of the globe but as perennials in other areas.
On the other hand, you may not see the Iceland poppy at all in areas with warm and temperate climates.
That’s because the humid summer season prevents them from growing.
It grows between one to two feet and produces pink, yellow, or white flowers about six to eight inches wide.
You will often see these flowers in late spring and early summer, which is around May to July.
Conclusion
Growing a garden is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have in this lifetime.
However, keep in mind that it requires a considerable amount of your attention and effort.
In growing a garden with poppies, it’s important to learn their blooming seasons.
While they might all belong to the same plant family, they produce flowers at different times of the year.
This knowledge will help you identify which poppies grow together and which ones might outcompete your other plants.
Be sure that you also know what your poppies need. Otherwise, you won’t see those vibrant, colorful flowers come spring.
Related Articles: