Monday, June 04, 2007

Floral bliss


For the first time since I put my first flower seed in the ground I have poppies. Beautiful, big, bright red California poppies. I LOVE poppies! I've never had luck with them in the past despite planting the damn things every. freaking. year.

I pointed them out to everyone and even made them go out to the garden and look at their exquisiteness up close and personel. I love their papery skin and their black centers. I love they way they move in the breeze. I think about the Wizard of Oz and that field of poppies the Wicked Witch of the West creates to stop the little party of adventurers "poppies...poppies...poppies."

Wild didn't understand my enthusiasm over a "stupid flower."

"Well, now we can make opium," I explained, smiling conspiratorially.

"What's opium?" from the 15-year-old.

I can't decide whether her ignorance of this narcotic is a good thing...or if I need to have another little "drugs are bad" conversation with her. She knows about pot and heroin and cocaine and LSD...but opium isn't in her vocabulary.

Note: I'm kidding about the opium, of course. We don't have enough poppies!

8 comments:

R said...

They're beautiful! Are they your plan to detract the eye away from the snake swampland that is currently your pond? If so, I say it'll work!

Lisa said...

Yeay Poppies. So pretty.

J. A. Blackburn said...

I love poppies too... very exotic! and opium... it really comes from Poppies, eh? What about poppy seeds (like for muffins)?

Slackermommy said...

I also love poppies. Mine didn't come up this year after a late freeze. I was so bummed.

Jenn said...

Yup, opium (and poppy seeds) come from poppies. But not the California variety, some other more exotic variety. And you would literally need acres of poppies to make opium!

Rebecca...that's the plan! I figure the more flowers I have around the place, the less people will notice the snakes swimming in the swamp-pond.

Slackermommy, I lost a rose bush and this year's grapes in that darned freeze. I wonder if yours will come up next year or are they permanently gone?

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! I love poppies. Opium??? sheesh, am wondering if I should have been more concerned about all of that wild 'mary-jane' growing all over our place in KS?

Nancy R said...

So lovely!

Maybe the snakes will get high on the opium and leave you all alone.

Jenn said...

Goatroper...mary jane? What mary jane? I would never have noticed it growing wild in Kansas. Nor would I have ever picked any and tried to dry it and smoke it and get a TERRIFICALLY terrible headache from it. Not me. That would have been WRONG. And if I did, the headache probably would have taught me a valuable lesson.

Nancy...ROFLMAO!!!! I can only hope.