Papaver White Swan

Papaver White Swan has dreamy white to soft cream petals, feathered and finely frilled. I immediately think of the classic ballerina skirts from a production of Swan Lake I saw as a child. In the case of White Swan those petals form dense yet delicate pom-poms that float on impossibly slender stems. Like those ballerinas, they have a hidden strength that lets them sway in the breeze. 🌸 Flowering: summertime 📏 Height: to 90cm 🌿 Annual 💧 Drought tolerant once roots are established Sow: in prepared ground where they are to flower, during March to June. Lightly rake to cover the seeds (it’s a bit like tickling them in). Germination usually takes about 3 weeks. Alternatively, you can sow August to October (protect these in colder and wetter places with cloches over the winter) to flower in the following late spring. Grow: thin to 20-30cm apart so young plants have room to grow. Flowering is in the summer. Collect the pods when they have dried or leave some to self-seed. Enjoy: I’m drawn to these because of the memory they trigger. Sometimes that’s reason enough to grow something. 🏡 In your garden • Cottage and informal gardens • Naturalistic planting such as meadows • Gravel gardens and prairie planting • Flower borders and beds ✂️ Cut flower • Fresh vase life 2 to 3 days • Cut in the cracking bud stage and sear the ends in boiling water for several seconds. • The seed pods are decorative, fresh or dried. 🍴 Edible • Only the fully dried mature seed is edible. When the pods are completely dry the seeds can be tipped out. • Used in bread and cakes • ‘White Swan’ is a specific cultivar of the breadseed poppy. 💡 Did you know? • Moonflower is an old regional name for white poppies, recorded particularly in Somerset and Devon. It seems wonderfully suited to White Swan, with those pale petals catching the evening light. ⚠️ CAUTION Only fully mature seed collected from completely dried pods is edible. The rest of the plant is harmful if eaten.