‘Mother of Pearl’ Poppy Seeds

Days to Maturity: 60 to 75

‘Mother of Pearl’ Poppy is a hardy annual offering summer interest, with ornamental seed pods extending the season of interest. The long-lived plants set delicate flowers with a black boss of stamens and crepe papery, tissue-like petals in misty shades of grey, lilac, mauve, pink, soft orange, and white, some picotee, some flecked. Borne singly on long, bristly stems, the showy, saucer-shaped flowers attract birds and bees to the garden and make lovely cut flowers if stems are singed before placing it in water.

‘Mother of Pearl’ Poppy is a Papaver rhoeas cultivar, a beloved old-fashioned variety also known as the common poppy, corn poppy, field poppy, or Flanders poppy. The plants have a clumping, spreading habit of pinnately lobed, cut or toothed, hairy leaves. ‘Mother of Pearl’ poppies are shown to best effect when grouped or massed in borders or beds or sown in drifts in non-native naturalized areas.