Poppies

...him again i hear you sigh. with yet another question. he must be an idiot?

well basically i am!

im competent enough to identify these as poppies, my dad threw "canadian" into the discussion. however there are at least two types. double and triple? the photos were taken on a windy day when the petals were being rapidly lost. a week or so ago. i saw them today and all the bowed heads are now in flower.

any firm identification, anyone?

 

Herbie, sorry can't ID them, but they're stunning!

 

They are opium poppies, BUT, it is perfectly legal to grow them here in the UK as ornamentals.

It would be an offence if someone were to extract the seeds (which is easy enough) and then do whatever processing is required to make opium. Anyone that did that could reasonably expect to get done.

However, here's the thing. Yes they are opium poppies, but to produce opium in any significant quantity, they need a lot more energy from the sun than we get in the UK.

Now if you were to insulate your attic, fill it with heaters and grow lights, and then grow the poppies in there, then you could reasonably expect a visit from plod. If on the other hand you grow them in your garden, then they are just an ornamental flower.

If a copper was to have a go about opium poppies in the garden, then frankly he/she is a fool. Its on a parr with the case a couple of years ago where a bloke had all his tomato plants confiscated after neighbours tipped the police off about the unusual smell coming from his greenhouse.

 

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Daisees



Herbi: you're probably not noticed the announcement (somewhere!) that images must be no larger than 800x400. Would you please be kind enough to resize yours? Thank you.

 

As to the topic in hand, opium poppies are beautiful, easy to grow and self seed like the blazes! When I moved into my present abode some years ago, there were a couple left by the previous owner. Within 2-3 years they were everywhere! Even amongst the vegetables. But I love them so I let them be. They are on sale in the garden centre so don't think there's any legal issues about them!

Here are some of my poppies - though I have the purple variety.