Papaver rhoeas 'De Reconvilier'

The Annual Poppy or Papaver rhoeas 'De Reconvilier' with multicoloured flowers offers a rich palette of colours ranging from white to dark red. Its semi-double, or sometimes single, corollas, light as transparent silk, bloom continuously from spring to summer, even in poor soils, as long as they receive enough sunlight. This poppy selection is as easy to sow and cultivate as the famous wildflower. Invite this pollinator plant into sunny borders and beds, it quickly fills empty spaces and tolerates even poor, heavy, chalky, and degraded soils. Its sowing is foolproof.

The field poppy, also known as corn poppy or simply poppy, is an annual plant from the Papaveraceae family, native to Asia Minor. The 'De Reconvilier' selection presents a great diversity of shades. Fast-growing, each plant reaches a height of 40 to 60cm (16 to 24in) when in flower, with a width of 30cm (12in), in a single season. With a delicate appearance, like its thin, rough and sparsely branched stems, this plant forms a tuft of alternate, lobed and toothed leaves, whose full power is revealed when it inevitably emerges from freshly disturbed soils, from seeds that can sometimes be very old. When the stem is broken, it releases a white, milky sap. The long-lasting summer flowering extends from June to August, depending on the climate and sowing date. The open cup-shaped flowers, measuring 5-6cm (2in) in diameter, have 6 to 8 silky, slightly crumpled petals of different colours depending on the plants. The green centre is equipped with numerous yellow stamens and anthers. The flowers give way to fruits that are capsules containing a large number of seeds that will be dispersed by the wind.

At home in wild gardens, parson's gardens, and gardens without gardeners, 'De Reconvilier' poppies allow you to quickly and effortlessly create oceans of bright, simple flowers that perfectly harmonize with the harsh light of summer. While not very long-lasting in bouquets, poppy flowers have a captivating charm when they accompany nigellas, Californian poppies, large daisies, or the moving foliage of grasses in beds. This annual plant, like cosmos, has no equal for filling embankments around new constructions and vacant spaces between annuals or late-flowering tall perennials such as sunflowers, in full sun. If you still want to make bouquets with its flowers, you will need to cauterize the stems where they have been cut, thus preventing the flowers from wilting during the day.