Corn poppy

Sun

Full sun.

Water

Keep the seedbed lightly moist until seedlings establish; afterward, water during prolonged dry spells. Avoid persistently wet soil.

Soil

Well-drained soil, including chalky, sandy or moderately clay-rich ground. Poor to moderately fertile soil is preferable to heavily enriched soil.

Height

1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m)

Spread

0.5-1 ft (0.15-0.3 m)

Flowers

Late spring to summer, sometimes continuing into early autumn with successive sowings. Usually scarlet red with dark basal markings; garden selections also come in pink, white and bicolours.

Foliage

Hairy, green, deeply divided leaves; foliage declines as the plant finishes flowering and sets seed.

Growth

Fast; flowers within one growing season.

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Deer resistant
• Drought tolerant
• Low allergen

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   0.5 ft (0.15 m)

2. After 1 year

   2 ft (0.6 m)

   full size

Full size in one season.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Fast

• Sow directly onto finely raked, weed-free soil; press the tiny seeds onto the surface rather than burying them.
• Thin seedlings to about 6-9 in (15-23 cm) apart, avoiding disturbance to those you keep.
• Water gently while seeds germinate and seedlings establish; reduce watering once roots are growing well.
• Avoid routine feeding or rich manure, which encourages floppy growth and fewer flowers.
• Keep thick mulch away from areas where you want seedlings to emerge.

Pruning. Remove faded flowers regularly to extend flowering and limit self-seeding. Leave a few capsules to ripen if you want seed, then pull up the plants once they have browned.

Late winter

Prepare a sunny, weed-free seedbed as soon as the ground is workable.

Spring

Sow directly outdoors and keep the surface lightly moist until seedlings appear.

Mid-spring

Thin crowded seedlings and remove competing weeds by hand.

Late spring

Make another small sowing if your summers are not extremely hot and dry.

Summer

Deadhead for continued flowering, or retain selected capsules for seed.

Late summer

Collect dry seed capsules before they scatter, then remove spent plants.

Autumn

In areas with mild winters, sow outdoors for earlier flowers the following spring.

• Scatter through a sunny cottage border for light, informal colour between longer-lived plants.
• Combine with cornflowers and corn marigolds in an annual wildflower patch on cultivated soil.
• Sow in gaps among ornamental grasses for scarlet flowers above fine foliage.
• Use along a sunny potager edge to draw pollen-collecting insects close to vegetable beds.

Garden styles it suits: Cottage garden, English country, Wildflower, Pollinator garden, Potager (kitchen garden) and Romantic rose garden.

Plant it with: Cornflower, Corn marigold, Love-in-a-mist, Larkspur, Pot marigold and Quaking grass.

Wildlife: Flowers provide pollen for bees and some other insects, but little or no nectar. Best used as part of a varied planting with nectar-rich flowers as well.

• Poor germination: seeds buried too deeply or covered with mulch may fail; surface-sow onto bare soil and keep lightly moist.
• Slugs and snails: protect young seedlings with hand-picking, barriers or locally approved wildlife-conscious controls.
• Aphids: wash small colonies off with water and encourage ladybirds and other predators.
• Downy mildew: remove badly affected plants, thin crowded growth and avoid wetting foliage when watering.

Treat the plant as potentially poisonous to people, cats, dogs and horses, particularly the green parts, milky sap and unripe seed capsules. Its alkaloids can cause digestive upset, drowsiness and potentially serious poisoning if enough is eaten. Do not allow grazing animals access; seek medical or veterinary advice after ingestion.

Where it spreads. Self-seeds freely on disturbed ground and can become a persistent garden weed. It is also an agricultural weed in southern Australia, including Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales; check local weed guidance before sowing.

• Long-headed poppy (Papaver dubium)

  Usually has smaller, paler red flowers and long, narrow seed capsules; corn poppy has short, broad capsules.

• Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

  Has broad, waxy blue-green leaves that clasp the stem and much larger, rounded seed capsules; corn poppy has hairy, deeply divided green leaves.

• Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale)

  A perennial with a substantial basal clump, coarser hairy leaves and much larger flowers; corn poppy is a slender annual.

The name corn poppy refers to its long association with cereal fields, using 'corn' in the British sense of grain.

Propagation. Grow from seed sown directly outdoors in spring, or in autumn where winters allow seedlings to survive. Seeds need light, so leave them on the surface. Plants resent transplanting, and self-sown seedlings are usually the easiest way to maintain a patch.

Accepted botanical name

Papaver rhoeas

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Alaska, Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is. and Cape Verde.

Measured

Soil pH 7 to 7.5. Average height 48 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.