First glance at a group of untamed wild flowers can be arresting. The excess alone is enough to render us sibilant, hissing short intakes of breath. At least that was my reaction when I started weeding around our Ginkgo tree avenue in Elizabeth Park.
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The area had been fenced off for construction of our upcoming Nature Based Adventure Playground. I neglected the enclosure, naturally considering barriers a sign of ‘no-go.’ And it was, until my supervisor expressed annoyance at the temerity of weeds to run rampant, unchecked, and bustling around the base of our mounded trees.
Keen to investigate, I poked my nose around the newly bulldozed hill to discover a headstrong and unrestrained collection of Prickly Lettuce and Milk Thistle pushing upwards from 40 to 90 cm in height! Amongst it all was an exclusive ten metre zone of purple-flowered Poppy flowers. It was complete, as if some vagabond gardener had carefully transplanted each seedling from a renegade nursery.
A blast from the past. Poppies are not so ‘popular’ today. Look-alike Black Chia seeds are used more often as a cereal sprinkle than the historical poppy seed.
Yes, I was hissing in surprise. I’ve always liked Poppy plants. Maybe being a grandparent has a bit to do with it. Yet these were not like the favourite Iceland Poppy, Papaver nudicaule (naked –stemmed) from sub-arctic regions and grown by gardeners for the pure joy they give.
I remember using the variety ‘Artists’ Glory’ in Victoria Park. We put them in circular beds in front of the park cottage, edged with ‘Blue Angel’ pansies.
I still feel a tremor of delight when I recall such past glories. Gone now of course. The round beds were ripped out and replaced with lawn because of the intense maintenance annual flowers require.
So you can imagine my compounded surprise to see a whole makeshift ‘bed’ for display with no attending gardener. Wild of course means untamed.
On closer inspection the flowers were not as full-bodied as you would expect in a cultivated bed. Impressive nonetheless though.
This assemblage of Rough Poppy (P. hybridum) have purple petals. They are annuals which is not significant because the Iceland Poppy is perennial, but gardeners treat them as annuals.
Related of course to the Oriental Poppy and Opium Poppy (P. somniferum) which has a very pretty variety called Peony Series.
Our volunteer wild ones have a poisonous alkaloid which can cause intestinal trouble if ingested. Personally I took the role of lovesick swain on sight of our unofficial poppy display. Weeds; what weeds?