You Can Grow That!
Last year about this time I visited Chris Hestwood’s beautiful garden on Nantucket. I admired her beautiful poppies (Papaver somniferous) and a few weeks later she brought me some seeds. I planted them just as they are spread in her garden – scattered over the surface of the soil. All spring I watched for them to appear and at first was afraid I had a poppy failure on my hands…I didn’t see any plants until well into May. Suddenly, however, there they were – a few here and a few there.
Some of the flowers are singles but most are fluffy doubles. Beautiful. I think that from now on they’ll grace these gardens, moving around and finding places among the perennials. These self-seeders embody many of the things we find in our gardens: surprise, color, the generosity of other gardeners and the willingness to let nature have a say in garden design. And they are heartbreakingly lovely. Thanks, poppies, thanks, Chris and thanks, gardens.
This is Chris Hestwood's beautiful garden and some of my poppies' relatives.
One of my favorites in my garden.
