Hardiness zones:
Sunset All zones
USDA All zones
Landscape Use: Cold hardy perennial that is used in Phoenix for winter color, plant in mass at 6" on center, edging plant
Form & Character: Festive, informal
Growth Habit: Stemless basal clumps < 12" tall
Foliage/texture: Basal leaves pinnately lobed or cleft and usually light pale green, medium fine texture
Flowers & fruits: Bright multiple-colored, ephemeral flowers 1-3" in diameter on weak, wily, sparsely pubescent 1-2' long scapes, flowers sometimes double; flower buds also pubescent, encapsulated fruit, oblong to 5/8" long
Seasonal color: Winter flowers range from mixtures of white, yellow, orange to red
Temperature: Prefers between 35o and 80oF
Light: Full sun
Soil: Well-drained garden soil, this plant is highly salt sensitive
Watering: Regular
Pruning: Remove spent flowers to encourage flowering
Propagation: Seed
Disease and pests: Snails and slugs, crown rot if soil poorly drained
Additional comments: There are numerous cultivated varieties of Iceland poppy that have
different flower colors and sizes including:
The genus Papaver has about 80 species spread across thenorthern hemisphere. Some horticulturally significant species of Papaver include:
'Champagne Bubbles'
Iceland poppy is not a good cut
flower as petals easily abscise. The flowers and seed capsules are mildly diaphoretic[
'Flamenco'
'Gartford Giant Mix'
'Hazy Days'
'Matador'
'Meadow Pastels'
'Moondance'
'San Remo'
'Wonderland'
P. orientale (Oriental poppy)
P. rhoes (corn poppy)
P. somniferum (opium poppy). Though botanically and horticulturally interesting and really beautiful in flower, opium poppies obviously are quite stigmatized.
