It is November as I write, and in Britain and several other countries, we shall be observing Remembrance Day which was first designed to commemorate the ending of World War I . It is the day we all come together to give our thanks, and to give gratitude to all those who have fallen in battle in all the wars since then that we may live in freedom.
Hundreds of thousands of artificial poppies are manufactured and are bought and worn by almost the entire population. The Flanders poppy, a bright red, is named after those which grew wild on the battlefield of French Flanders during the First Great War. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who fought with the Canadian contingent, wrote the famous poem, “In Flanders Fields”:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place.
There are some other lovely lines by Laurence Binyon from his “Poems For the Fallen”:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
When I was growing up, a two minutes’ silence was held at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year, in order to show our respect. In the offices, shops, factories and schools, people would stand quietly for that period; v ehicles on the road, pedestrians on the street... all would come to a halt and there would be a great quietness in the land. It was deeply moving and I always thought it very beautiful and was saddened to hear, while living abroad, that the practice had begun to stop in many places because some employers and part of the populace had no wish to be involved. However, it seems to be gaining importance again, particularly with the experience of the two latest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I hope its relevance will be recognized by all. Two minutes each year is little enough to give to honor those who gave us the freedom and life we enjoy today.
Our gratitude for such sacrifice cannot be measured or adequately described. Those veterans enabled me to have a long and full life and there are many whom I have personally honored finding much solace in planting a tree, shrub or bush in memory of someone I have admired or loved. In every season their spirit is with me, and I am often reminded of Edward Elgar’s smiling words to a friend after he had written his “Enigma Variations” (I am paraphrasing): “If you should be walking on the hills one day and feel a presence, don’t worry, it will only be me.”
Poppies don’t care to be fussed over; they scatter their seeds blissfully and successfully and do better in deep, fertile soil, rather than shallow. Like most plants, they prefer good drainage, though Papaver Alpinus (Alpine Poppy) needs good, sharp drainage, as its name suggests-its native conditions being mountainous and rocky.
Plant the seeds where you most want them to grow since poppies don’t transplant well, even though they will wander throughout the garden and into someone else’s. I have been growing them for many years but still lost a large and lovely clump this year by moving it from the centre of a spread of gazanias: a), I did not dig deeply enough (trying to save disruption to the other plants), and b) I was doing so during a hot part of the day since I was going out later. Very foolish; I could easily have left it until another day. A hot day doesn’t preclude transplanting, but resettlement is obviously easier for a plant if it is settling itself in cooler conditions, no matter how much water you give it.
P. Orientale (Oriental Poppy) blooms later in the season if you want color at that time of year. I have a lovely lavender-pink one growing tall out of a bed of pale yellow osteospermum, and although I wouldn’t normally choose to site those two shades so closely together, I have to say that it looks like a ballerina pirouetting in a lemon-coloured tu tu, an absolute delight.... Well, yes, I am, indeed, a romantic...
Incidentally, in view of the wretched weather we have endured in England since July, in my area, it is a testament to the tenacity of sun-loving flowers, such as osteospermum, gazanias and poppies who bravely raise their heads every day, seek the rare, watery sunbeams available and fast hopefully until the climate changes in their favor.
Miscellaneous Tips
Gather seedpods as soon as they turn from green to brown or black, and do it on a dry day so that the seeds are not damp. Lay them out in paper-lined trays or boxes in a warm, sunny place to dry out totally. If they do not open when dry, gently crush them to release the seeds and put those through a sieve, thus separating them from the chaff.
In cold, wet climates, wait until the soil has warmed up in the spring before planting annuals; biennials should be planted later but will probably not flower until the following year. If your climate is too cold to plant seeds immediately, place them in paper bags or envelopes, put those inside a sealed plastic container and keep them in the bottom of the refrigerator at a temperature of 31-34F, or 1-5C.
