Sunday, August 2, 2009

Pretty picture: Papaver nudicaule 'Champagne Bubbles'

I hadn't heard of Icelandic poppies (Papaver nudicaule) before a couple weeks ago. Actually, I didn't know much of anything about poppies at all, never having paid them a lot of attention. I'm learning, though. These remind me a lot of California poppies, Eschscholzia californica, despite not being shaped the same way, having similar foliage, or growing in similar locations. Maybe it's the colors?


I'm not terribly inclined to try to grow either one, having had two consecutive bad experiences with Eschscholzia (which is, by the way, hella fun to try to spell, though I'm not crazy enough to try to pronounce it), and being fairly unfamiliar with Papaver, though I'm not ruling out P. nudicaule just yet. We'll see.


These pictures were taken at a Home Depot somewhere in the Quad Cities, in case you want to know.


2 comments:

lynn'sgarden said...

Yea...nudicaule, eschscholzia (hurt myself trying to pronounce that one)..where do these names come from. Although 'Champagne Bubbles' I can remember..lol. Pretty pics indeed! I've actually grown these and unless you have a big bed of them, they don't make a huge impact as the blooms fade quickly.

Chris said...

I just planted California poppies for the first time. I'm a little nervous they are going to explode all over my neighbors yard.