Poppies

Like many people, my first memory of poppies was in The Wizard of Oz. Of course, I had no idea what the symbolism of the snow falling on the poppies while Dorothy and her friends got sooooo sleeeepy. Later, I remember seeing Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page wearing a poppy suit while performing. Paul McCartney mentions poppies in his song "Penny Lane." This is a reference to poppies being a symbol of war dead in England as well as Canada and the US.

I didn't realize until much later that you can grow poppies in the garden. They are easy to grow and bloom in a variety of colors (see the salmon colored poppies above). The poppies we grow in New England are different from the California poppy which is a smaller annual flower. And, the opium poppy grown in places like Afghanistan is illegal in most western countries.