Like garnet goblets held high above the border, Lauren's Dark Grape poppies bring a deliciously dramatic note to the spring garden. The 4–5-inch flowers have satiny, chalice-shaped petals in an unusually deep ruby-purple, glowing against broad, blue-gray foliage.
This is a tall, old-fashioned poppy with real presence: plants can reach 3–5 feet in richer soil, making them marvelous punctuation at the back of a cottage border or among softer pastel flowers. Their cool-season performance and generous self-sowing habit can turn one spring display into a welcome encore.
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Botanical name: Papaver somniferum
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Life cycle: Hardy annual
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Exposure: Full sun
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Sowing: Direct sow in fall or very early spring
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Planting depth: Barely cover, up to 1/8 in.
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Germination: 7–14 days
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Mature height: 3–5 ft.
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Final spacing: 8–10 in.
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Approximate seed count: 1,900
Remove fading flowers to prolong the show, or let selected pods mature and scatter seed for a naturally recurring drift. Find more singular beauties in our flower seed packets.
