Papaver orientale Perrys White - Oriental Poppy

The Papaver orientale Perry's White is a tall and magnificent variety of Oriental Poppy, full of elegance and charm. Its large crumpled corollas, similar to white silk shaded with pink, have beautiful almost black central macules at their base, and reveal a heart tinged with pink and wine. They bloom from late spring to summer, on tall stems, more numerous over the years. This very perennial plant is easy to grow in all good garden soils, even limestone and dry in summer, in the sun, and its flowers picked in buds are superb in bouquets.

The Papaver orientale is a herbaceous perennial of the papaveraceae family, native to Asia. The cultivar 'Perry's White' is a horticultural creation derived from this plant. It develops robust floral stems of about 90 cm (35in) in height and forms a bushy tuft that thickens over the years. Flowering begins in early June and continues into July, usually stopped by heat and drought. Each floral stem carries at its tip a single pendant bud that turns towards the sky, giving birth to a large bicolour flower, about 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6in) in diameter, with 4 crumpled petals arranged in 2 rows, translucent, tinged with violet and maculated with almost black purple at the base of the corolla. The flower remains open for a few hours before dropping its petals. Well-established plants produce several floral stems, ensuring flower renewal for about 3 weeks. After flowering, the foliage tends to disappear, leaving in autumn a small basal rosette, which is characteristic of an adaptation to high temperatures and summer drought. This plant has large, rough, dark green leaves, divided, covered with hairs that give them a very decorative grey-blue reflection. The fleshy and deep roots of this Oriental poppy do not tolerate transplantation well, especially in adult plants.

Oriental poppies are equally at ease in sophisticated flower beds as in cottage gardens or wildflower compositions. Their silky and somewhat disorderly foliage forms an opulent tuft that stands out in flower beds. Associate them with mugworts, lavenders, daisies, tall thistles, linaria asters and nepetas with light flowers. They also nicely accompany autumn stonecrops whose foliage develops during summer, Damask daisies and cosmos for a summery atmosphere with soft colours. In any case, accompany them with perennials such as Echinaceas or Helianthus, which follow them in flowering and conceal the somewhat bare stump of the poppies after flowering.