pandora poppies close up in pinks whites and silvers

Throughout Oxfordshire it certainly seems to be proving to be the year of the Poppy. From our day to day travels and from our very own test zones planted with a range of varieties, we are pleased to share a visual exploration of our findings here with you. And it’s only the beginning of July… Poppies will flower all the way through to October. Here’s a month of them thus so far.

colour pop

a paint brush and a multi coloured poppy on wood

We didn’t paint this Poppy. No Poppies were harmed during this exploration

black peony poppy close up

Poppies with attitude in pinks, reds and purples

Chipping Norton

a field of red poppies

black and red poppy

man in poppy field photographing them

Henley-on-Thames

all pink poppy field in henley-on-thames

a pink and grey poppy close up

pink and aubergine striped pandora poppy

pastel pink pandora poppy close up

Amongst our trials we opted to test out batches of Pandora Poppies. Once again they don’t disappoint. The sheer variation from one seed pack can be mind boggling. No two faces ever seem to be the same. We harvested our own seeds last year and here’s a fraction of variations from today’s yield alone –

Headshots

12 headshots of pandora poppies from the same seed batch showing how many variations you can get

Native Poppies, across their spectrum are easy to sow and grow yourself. They are relatively effortless. Average seed numbers per plant can range from 10,000 to 60,000. Poppy seeds can remain active in the soil for 8 years.

seeing red

view of a blood red poppy field from a 16th century cottage in the cotswolds

eye candy

twenty different Poppies ranging in shape and colour growing together

a fluted red and white pandora poppy close up

scarlet red poppies with shaggy petals

delicate red pandora poppies on a table

shades of grey

Nope, not going to say it… just going to talk about shades of grey, however many or less. This, in our opinion is the one to watch. Variations of silver grey Poppies are emerging as front runners in floral couture trends. These delicate, coveted beauties are beginning to be more widely cultivated. We have already found many strains in our test field so we are going to trial singling them out and harvesting even more this year. In the States they seem more abundantly available and are commonly known (there) as ‘Amazing Grey‘ from the Papaver rhoeas Shirley variety. We are pulling our grey strains from Papaver rhoeas Pandora.

rare grey poppies from England