Quizzes & Puzzles15 mins ago
Opium Poppies ...... Advice Please!
This year we have had the most amazing display of huge poppies in our front garden, different shades of pink, red, and lilac, some frilly, some double with massive heads. They have really been a picture. I didn't set them although I had a few which came up by themselves last year so assumed they had self-set as wild flowers. We had the front garden completely dug over last Autumn and I know that is what starts germination of the wild flanders red poppies you can see growing as a whole farmers field after it has been ploughed after many years lying dormant.
I had no idea ours were "opium" poppies! Used as drugs?? They have mostly finished flowering now and today I was pulling up the whole plants to throw them away but cutting the beautiful seedheads off to use for flower arranging - you can buy these dried seedheads from florists but cost quite a lot of money! To my horror someone walking by casually remarked "I see you are harvesting your OPIUM poppies - is it legal to grow them here in the UK - in Australia where I am from, you would be arrested!" Gosh, I had no idea if he was joking - I felt quite scared then, so wondered if that is the case. We live next door to a retired policeman and he surely would have said something to us! .......... What a shame they are associated in this bad light, they were absolutely fantastic and lots of elderly people on our estate have been saying for several weeks what a picture they are in our garden, so pretty.
I had no idea ours were "opium" poppies! Used as drugs?? They have mostly finished flowering now and today I was pulling up the whole plants to throw them away but cutting the beautiful seedheads off to use for flower arranging - you can buy these dried seedheads from florists but cost quite a lot of money! To my horror someone walking by casually remarked "I see you are harvesting your OPIUM poppies - is it legal to grow them here in the UK - in Australia where I am from, you would be arrested!" Gosh, I had no idea if he was joking - I felt quite scared then, so wondered if that is the case. We live next door to a retired policeman and he surely would have said something to us! .......... What a shame they are associated in this bad light, they were absolutely fantastic and lots of elderly people on our estate have been saying for several weeks what a picture they are in our garden, so pretty.
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by Ann. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Yes, it's perfectly legal - my elderly mother had dozens of them. It's not the growing them which is the problem, you just mustn't process them - drying them for flower decorations is absolutely fine. They wouldn't sell the seeds if it weren't legal. http:// www.nic kys-nur sery.co .uk/gar den-sho p/seeds /cut-fl ower/pa paver.- poppy-c herry-g low-200 -seeds? gclid=C OKqgLrp vrgCFfL HtAodWw UAyA
opium isn't made from the seeds but from the sap. Yes they are quite legal to grow and safe.
http:// www.cro cus.co. uk/plan ts/_/pa paver-s omnifer um-laur ens-gra pe/clas sid.200 0018825 /
http://
Blimey, scroll down to "Modern Usage" - I didn't realise you could get high from eating two poppy seeded rolls! https:/ /en.wik ipedia. org/wik i/Opium
Related Questions
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.