![]() ![]() Black-colored seeds are encapsulated until ripe, when the barrel-like fruit will “pop” or explode to distribute its contents. The poppy self-seeds, so it will remain in the garden year after year. ![]() This poppy will bloom from late spring into summer. Average rainfall is sufficient to meet a poppy’s water requirements. Maintenance requirements for the poppies are low, but make sure to place this plant in full morning sun with good drainage. Grow them in clumps, as they are eye-catching when massed in rock gardens and border bed frontage (1.5 ft in height). Pair this poppy with blue cornflowers and white verbena or Nippon daisies for a striking color combination. This resilient wildflower is commonly known as the corn poppy given its readiness to flourish in farm fields, i.e., a broad-leaved agricultural weed, but an attractive one. Multiple scarlet-red petals form to create the body of each flower, with a distinctive black dot at the petal’s base. This delicate-looking annual features interesting-looking, drooping buds that unfold to bloom. Bright artificial poppy flowers are often distributed at charity events on Memorial Day in the United States, to remember the fallen and honor their ultimate sacrifice, with hope that their lives were not lost in vain.Īlthough native to Europe and Asia, Papaver rhoeas has naturalized in many parts of our country, since this plant’s introduction. The term “remembrance poppy” was first used in 1921 by the Royal British Legion, and is now internationally used in many countries to commemorate military personnel who have died in war. The poem’s opening lines refer to the abundant poppies that were the first flowers to bloom in the disturbed earth of the allied soldiers’ graves in Flanders (Belgium). The common red poppy flower is a well-known symbol for the blood spilled during the four years (1914-1918) of The Great War (World War I) and lauded by the 1915 poem, “In Flanders Fields,” written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. Perhaps a fitting ironic symbolism of the blood spilt by so many for so little.May is a time for remembering and memorials. ![]() They spread prolifically across the fields until it appeared as a sea of red. The earth that was stirred up by so many artillery shells in turn released the poppy seeds that would not normally have had the chance to germinate. It is said that the chalk soil of Flanders became rich in lime due to the rubble produced by the massive bombardments of battle. Poppies indeed became significant as a remembrance of war as prior to the Great War, poppies were rare in the fields of Flanders. The Legion had first been formed to help veterans and their families who had been left impoverished during the war and Haig was quick to adopt their idea as an excellent method to both honour the dead and help the living. In 1921, Madame Guerin and a group of French war widows approached the former British Commander-in-Chief, Earl Haig, at the Legion Headquarters in London, about the idea of selling artificial poppies to raise monies to help needy soldiers and their families. Guerin who was in turn inspired to take this idea home. Amongst them was the representative from France, Madame E. She thanked them for this gift and said that she would use the money to purchase poppies, relating to them John McCrae’s poem which had been her inspiration. Michaels, she had been given a small monetary gift by visiting delegates. During a meeting of the YMCA wartime secretaries in New York, which was hosted by Ms. Some claim that a young New Yorker by the name of Moira Michaels was the first to wear a poppy as a means of “keeping the faith” after reading a copy of “In Flanders Fields”. The story of how the poppy has become the symbol of remembrance has varying origins but the overall basis for the wearing of the poppy is without question, Captain John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields”. Whatever the reason, in Canada, the poppy has become to be known as the one universal symbol of remembrance. Others remember the sacrifices made in the world’s trouble spots such as Cyprus, Bosnia and most recently in Afghanistan. Millions of Canadians pin one to their lapel or hat each and every November 11th as a way of expressing their remembrance of the servicemen and women who gave their lives in two world wars and in Korea. ![]()
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