"A poppy seed can lie dormant for fifty years before it blooms."
Winter is a difficult time for me. During a normal year I struggle with mild depression from time to time, but winter kind of just packs it all in a little tighter...less ups, longer downs. Sometimes it can be a real drag. I really cherish the sunny days that come along to break up a long, overcast streak. On those days, I am usually a new person full of smiles and good cheer. Winter is not necessarily a time of death or of desolation, but it is a time of dormancy, and also one of preparation. For example, the dead-looking plants in my yard seem to be long gone, but they are just biding their time waiting for the right conditions to show their beauty in a riot of color, smells and sounds.
That in mind, I will tell myself on these dead, boring, difficult days that I am a seed. I am treasuring up the beauty inside of me.
Perhaps this spring I will plant the southwest corner of my yard with a mix of perennials and poppies to remind me that sometimes it takes time for beauty to emerge. Maybe the poppy seeds I sow this spring will wait to bloom in years to come.
Picks for a Poppy Garden (in no particular order):
This mix includes a mix of 16 species of annuals and perennials. Included in the mix are California Poppy, Blanket Flower, Desert Bluebell, Scarlet Gilia, Blue Flax, Penstemon, Coreopsis, Gayfeather and other long blooming species.
2. Himalayan Blue Satin Poppy From Seedman.com. Absolutely Gorgeous!
3. Dwarf California Poppy also from Seedman.com. These look great for a natural feel in the garden.
4. Crimson Feathers from One Stop Poppy Shoppe.
This one is so unusual and such a lovely shade of pink.
5. Papaver Somniferum Album. From One Stop Poppy Shoppe. Beautiful. Simple. White.
