Papaver

A hairy-stemmed hardy annual of cornfields and disturbed ground, the common poppy bears finely cut leaves and brilliant scarlet, papery, four-petalled flowers - often with a dark basal blotch - in early summer, followed by the iconic pepper-pot seed capsule. This is the remembrance / Flanders poppy. Important and load-bearing: it is NOT the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) but a different species, and its seeds are NOT the culinary "poppy seeds" of that plant; it contains only mild alkaloids (rhoeadine) and the green plant is regarded as mildly toxic, so treat it as inedible and ornamental rather than a food crop. It is a true annual that self-seeds prolifically and needs open, disturbed soil to germinate - sow it in situ where it is to flower, as it dislikes transplanting. The flowers offer pollen but little nectar, so bees work them for pollen.

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial from the mountain meadows of Türkiye, the Caucasus and northern Iran, grown for its huge, papery, cup-shaped flowers in late spring and early summer. The wild species has light orange to orange-red petals, usually with a spot at the base, and violet anthers; garden plants come in orange, red, pink and white, often with a black centre. A mound of hairy, finely cut grey-green leaves grows from fall through spring, then dies down after flowering and leaves a gap until a new rosette appears in fall, which is the key thing to plan for. It wants full sun, cold winters and soil that drains well, and its deep taproot resents being moved. All parts are mildly poisonous.