If you haven’t noticed, there are some especially bright faces popping up in gardens right about now. And I don’t mean the usual annuals that give us so much delight. I mean the poppies! – those cheery visitors that seem to show up out of nowhere from last year’s beds and sway in the late spring and early summer breezes. Poppies are a tease in the floral universe. These perennials of the Papaveraceae family have a fairly short bloom period, but when they’re here, they’re really HERE – all 80-plus varieties of them.

In her gorgeous book, Slow Flowers, Debra Prinzing writes about Iceland poppies: “Why do we love them so? Perhaps it’s because of their pure, vibrant petal colors with the charming button-like centers…and their buds, encased in a fuzzy shell that pops open to reveal the crinkly bright petals inside, ready to bloom.”

If you haven’t yet added poppies to your spring-summer garden extravaganza, why not plan on sowing some seeds next fall or winter? You won’t be disappointed. These easy-care perennials will keep on giving for years to come.

Poppies also make a splash indoors in cut-flower arrangements. Here are two from Debra’s book, celebrating Spring, Week 11.

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