Plant Profile: Yellow Horned Poppy
(Glaucium flavum)
I
noticed, during my garden walk the other day, that my Yellow HornedPoppy had seedpods that were ready to pop. Now if you're into
seedpods, as I am, those on the Horned Poppy are an absolute delight.
First of all, they are long – really long, as in up to 12” (30
cm) and almost as narrow as the stem. When they first form and are
green, it's hard to tell where the stem ends and the seedpod begins.
However, it's very easy to tell when they're mature- the pods turn a dark brown and if they're ready,
the pods will easily snap off the stem; if not, you can tug and twist
with all your might and they won't budge. Opening the mature pods takes a
simple twist and the seeds literally fall out. And there are so many
of the tiny, little things! They run up and down the whole length of
the pod – easy to figure out why this plant is a self-seeder.
Long, curvaceous seedpods!
I can't
figure out why this plant is not more common in gardens. There is so
much to love about it! The foliage itself makes it garden-worthy:
the highly-dissected leaves are a bright silvery- blue and grow in a
lush mound, providing visual interest all season. The pale yellow
flowers on 24" stems are produced in abundance continually from July to September
and as the flowers fade, those incredible seedpods begin to form. All
in all, it's quite the conversation piece. On top of that, it's a
pretty low-maintenance flower, growing best in poor soils, and it can
handle variable growing conditions, including drought.
The
Horned Poppy has a long history of cultivation. A native of the
coasts of much of Europe and the Mediterranean, it was a
cottage-garden favourite for hundreds of years and was grown extensively
in England and Ireland. Gerard described it in the 16th C.
Immigrants brought it with them to settle the New World and it
flourished here, naturalizing along the eastern U.S. coast. Settlers
did discover, 'though, that our harsh winters necessitated growing it
as an annual rather than the short-lived perennial it is in Europe.
An 1827 Ontario seed catalogue lists it as one of their offerings of
annual flowers. Mine, however, have survived milder winters in our
Zone 5b gardens.
To grow the Horned Poppy from seed, start it indoors in winter. The seed benefits from stratification (which means providing it with a cold spell to break dormancy), so after pressing the seed into moist, soil-less mix and lightly covering with mix, place a plastic baggy over the top and place it in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. Then remove the pot from the fridge and place it under lights. Or if you're lazy like me, simply place the pot of sown seeds outdoors in winter in a sheltered spot (without the baggy!) so it can experience the normal freeze-thaw cycles.
I read you had to plant yellow horn poppy in sea sand, and is very hard to grow. Mexican prickly poppy is simple toss it in some sand and it grows all over the place, so your saying yellow horn grows in regular soil and all the rocks in mounds to drain with worm casting, a better yet dying wood an sea plant life is not correct. I have planted the Mexican poppy and have held on to my many yellow horn do to what I read. So it is as easy as you say?
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