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  • Gardening 101: Opium Poppy – Gardenista

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    Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum

    The notoriety of Papaver somniferum, the “sleep-inducing poppy,” is only partly to do with its outlaw family.

    Opium poppies are grown for their edible seeds and for pharmaceutical uses. The type that you see in gardens—whether your own or in the medicinal section of a botanic garden—is the legal relation, not toxic enough to be useful to anyone. The subversive beauty of P. somniferum is firmly rooted in its fabulous color and texture, and the way it can turn a vegetable patch into a Dutch painting.

    Photography by Jim Powell for Gardenista.

    Self-seeded opium poppy that has not been weeded out of a fennel, in my garden.
    Above: Self-seeded opium poppy that has not been weeded out of a fennel, in my garden.

    More correctly but prosaically called “breadseed poppy,” Papaver somniferum is an unknown quantity when in bud. A couple of nearby seeds may result in shades of profound magenta and desirable pink, like the wild opium poppies in our vegetable garden, at the top of this page. On the other hand, they could germinate into the tawdriest hues of clapped-out mauve, in which case you are perfectly within your rights to pull them out.

    Above: Double varieties of black opium poppy include Papaver somniferum ‘Black Beauty’ and ‘Black Peony’.

    This is the great thing about self-seeding plants: If you edit them, they look purposeful. If you don’t, then they are weeds, run amok. Opium poppies grow well with other poppies, seen here, above, at the Oxford Botanic Garden, in the medicinal plant beds. But it’s more fun to allow them to pop up wherever they like. In soil that is rich, like a vegetable garden, they will grow stout and tall, with handsome glaucous foliage and green-gray seed heads on strong stalks.

    Single deep black opium poppies at Oxford Botanic Garden.
    Above: Single deep black opium poppies at Oxford Botanic Garden.

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  • Blue Cardinal Flower: How to Grow Lobelia, a Native Perennial

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    Lobelia siphilitica, Blue Cardinal Flower

    Blue cardinal flower, also known as great blue lobelia,  is a tall native perennial that blooms for long weeks at the end of summer. Like its striking cousin, the red cardinal flower, this lobelia relishes plenty of water and is happy growing in full-sun rain gardens, bogs, and damp meadows. But it will also grow successfully without supplemental water in semi-shaded flower borders if its roots remain cool and mulched. Blue cardinal flower brings vertical interest to the garden and is a vividly blue counterpoint to the colors of late summer and early autumn.

    Above: The spires of blue cardinal flower can grow up to four feet tall.
    Above: An illustration of blue cardinal flower from William Barton’s Vegetable Materia Medica of the United States (circa 1825).

    Lobelia siphilitica’s species name is derived from one of its many Native American uses as a treatment for syphilis (in conjunction with other toxic-slash-medicinal ingredients like cherry and May apple—don’t try this at home).

    Above: Blue cardinal flower with a late summer tangle of obedient plant, ageratum, and rudbeckia.
    Above: In the middle of a border, the tall spikes of blue cardinal flower hold their own with grasses and asters.
    Above: Blue cardinal flowers support a wide range of native bees and butterflies.

    Cheat Sheet

    • Blue cardinal flower is native to eastern North America.
    • It is a member of the bell flower (Campanulaceae) family.
    • The species name of siphilitica is derived from an historical use of the plant in the treatment of venereal diseases.
    • Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds feed on the flowers’ nectar.
    • Lobelias produce a toxic compound called lobeline, which makes them less palatable to deer.
    Above: Blue cardinal flower appreciates afternoon shade where summers are hot.

    Keep It Alive

    • Blue cardinal flower is hardy from USDA growing zones 4 to 9.
    • Plant its seeds or seedlings in rich soil with plenty of organic matter.
    • It thrives in damp soil and wet edges of ponds, rain gardens, or streams.
    • Plant in full sun only in cooler climates.
    • Where summers are hotter, plant blue cardinal flowers where it will grow in afternoon shade.

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  • Gardening 101: Japanese Anemones – Gardenista

    Gardening 101: Japanese Anemones – Gardenista

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    Japanese Anemone, A. hupehensis: “Daughter of the Wind”

    There’s a nondescript, partially shaded corner of my garden that is frankly rather dull until finally it comes into its own in September. That’s when the gorgeous Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’  produces its pearly buds as a subtle preview of the real show—white flowers bobbing delicately on tall wire-thin stems. What makes these flowers so outstanding is their brilliant centers: bright green seed heads surrounded by a thicket of orangey yellow stamens.

    Surprisingly Japanese anemones aren’t Japanese at all. This corner of my garden is actually home to natives of China. Read on to hear the story of how they came to Brooklyn (and gardens in other countries):

    Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Gardenista.

    Early European plant explorers first discovered windflowers in Japan, where they had been imported and cultivated by gardeners for generations. (The anemones, which frequently like to grow where they want instead of where you plant them, had escaped into the wild and naturalized.)  The Europeans labeled the plants Anemone japonica.
    Above: Early European plant explorers first discovered windflowers in Japan, where they had been imported and cultivated by gardeners for generations. (The anemones, which frequently like to grow where they want instead of where you plant them, had escaped into the wild and naturalized.)  The Europeans labeled the plants Anemone japonica.

    Today the plant has been re-named Anemone hupehensis, or Chinese anemone. It is a native of Hubei province in eastern China. The Victorian plant hunter Robert Fortune discovered it growing in a cemetery in Shanghai and introduced it in Europe in 1844.
    Above: Today the plant has been re-named Anemone hupehensis, or Chinese anemone. It is a native of Hubei province in eastern China. The Victorian plant hunter Robert Fortune discovered it growing in a cemetery in Shanghai and introduced it in Europe in 1844.

    There are more than 120 species of Anemone but unlike some of the others that grow from tubers or rhizomes, Anemone hupehensis is a tall (typically 2 to 4 feet in height) long-lived perennial with fibrous roots that can spread via underground stems.
    Above: There are more than 120 species of Anemone but unlike some of the others that grow from tubers or rhizomes, Anemone hupehensis is a tall (typically 2 to 4 feet in height) long-lived perennial with fibrous roots that can spread via underground stems.

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  • Chinese Lanterns: How to Use Them in Floral Arrangements

    Chinese Lanterns: How to Use Them in Floral Arrangements

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    With the Lunar New Year coming up on February 10, we’re resurfacing this story from our archives about using Chinese lanterns in floral arrangements. Consider yourself lucky if you come across the stems at your local flower shop—and bring them home to artfully decorate for the holiday.

    Chinese lanterns have a mystique that may be lost on the innocent gardener. A couple of seasons after being planted and even forgotten, the large leaves and unremarkable white flowers of this ornamental plant emerge everywhere, even in a lawn. Yet, as fountains of papery calyces turn from green to a deep autumnal orange, the point of persevering with this aggressive spreader becomes clear.

    Artist Fiona Haser Bizony, formerly of Electric Daisy Flower Farm in Bradford-on-Avon, harvested hers in September, then hung them indoors to dry for a couple of months, having first stripped the leaves. What do they go with? Everything.

    Photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer, for Gardenista.

    Chinese lanterns are also known romantically as Amours en Cage (Love in a Cage), because of the fruits that are revealed after the cases have dried out.
    Above: Chinese lanterns are also known romantically as Amours en Cage (Love in a Cage), because of the fruits that are revealed after the cases have dried out.

    The notoriety of Physalis alkekengi  is somehow compounded by the knowledge that it is a member of the nightshade family, which includes tomato, potato, and highly poisonous belladonna. Clearly, the solution for taming this orange “bladder” (from which its name derives in ancient Greek) is to grow it specifically for harvesting, all by itself. In a wilder garden, Chinese lanterns light up a hedge, when grown in rough grass around the perimeter. Sun preferred.

    Hedgerow gatherings, including spindle and hawthorn, joined by magenta chrysanthemums and Chinese lanterns.
    Above: Hedgerow gatherings, including spindle and hawthorn, joined by magenta chrysanthemums and Chinese lanterns.

    In preparing her lantern harvest for an arrangement, Fiona simply took a look around. “This is the result of a lovely bit of foraging in the hedgerows around our new farm for autumnal foliage and berries,” she says. Being a highly innovative flower decorator (she’s Florist in Residence for the Royal Horticultural Society, among other honors), Fiona is not short of homegrown flowers to complement Chinese lanterns.



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