Royal Wedding Oriental Poppy

Light Needs

Full Sun

(At Least 6 Hours Of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

2.5 Feet

Mature Spread

1.5-2 Feet

Growing Zones

3 to 7

Classic signs of summer, oriental poppies are irresistible showboats. Their easy care, happy colors, and vigor has made them cottage garden favorites over the centuries. Royal Wedding poppy offers a unique color twist on the traditional stop-light red poppy: this one is white hinting pink salmon, sporting a black eye and red stamens that reads as almost purple. The overall effect is a touch of crisp elegance for your sunny garden. Beyond ease of care and stellar good looks, Royal Wedding resists deer and rabbits, but attracts the flutter of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

This upright papaver orientalis can reach 36 inches high and 24 inches wide, and is adaptable to sandy, clay or average soil. Oriental poppies make wonderful cut flowers for arrangements; the trick is to sear the stem after cutting. They make brilliant additions in borders or containers. Their crepe-paper blooms bely their tough constitutions. They are very long-lived, but usually go dormant in the heat of summer, so plant with later-emerging companions with late summer interest like warm-season grasses and asters. Another option is to use fluffy textured but shallow-rooted annuals like nicotiana or cosmos that won’t mess with the poppies’ deep taproot. The late great designer Gertrude Jekyll’s tip was to grow alongside Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila paniculata).

Royal Wedding Oriental Poppy Care

Hardy from Zones 3-7, Royal Wedding is quite tolerant of cold, and some drought once established. Oriental poppies like Royal Wedding prefer their soil from average to fertile, with a neutral pH and excellent drainage. Sandy slope? No problem. Parking strip? Sign us up! They do need full sun, so an open south- or west-facing exposure is best. In areas with mild, rainy winters a gravel mulch will help repel excess moisture during dormancy. When planting, cover the crown by three inches in well-prepared soil, and water well while in bud and flower, but cut back on watering once dormant.

Poppies don’t need much in the way of fertilizer; you can opt for a dressing of aged cow manure, compost, or some slow-release fertilizer in spring. The deep taproot resents transplanting, so dividing is best done every five years in August. The seedpods are fascinating on their own, so go ahead and leave them on – deadheading will not prolong bloom. At season’s end if you see any new foliage, leave it intact, and if your area has strong frosts, mulch in winter after the ground freezes with evergreen boughs to prevent crowns being heaved in winter frosts.

Royal Wedding Oriental Poppy Spacing

Allow an approximate span of 18 to 24 inches to ensure the best growth of Royal Wedding Oriental Poppy.