Opium poppies 24 November 2019 at 7:25PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 21 replies 3.2K views

Mr_Singleton

Have just seen an image of an opium poppy.

Am I correct in thinking that they were pretty common in the UK? Am sure I used to see them growing wild in my teens.... or was it a different plant?

TonyMMM

Still common in many gardens

pogofish

My 90-odd year-old mother still has a number popping-up every year in her garden. Originally from a flower bed planted by her dad in the approx 1920s.

And yes, I’ve seen a few wild in places too.

Farway

I've never succeed with them, even though they spring up in pavement cracks at times

BTW TonyMMM, in case your posting was drug related, UK summers are not hot enough to produce the hallucination stuff in the sap, one has to stick to magic mushrooms in UK;)

peachyprice

They are extremely common in the UK, particularly growing wild in London and certainly do contain 'active' substances.

There was a story in the Daily Fail (excuse me for posting this) Not sure how true it is though

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2667253/Not-Afghanistan-Hampshire-How-opium-poppies-grown-UK-make-morphine-NHS.html

DebtFreeSeason

I've seen quite a few in the wild. Especially around London

unrecordings

Got a patch of around half a dozen here, they look fantastic when in flower

TonyMMM

Farway wrote: »

BTW TonyMMM, in case your posting was drug related, UK summers are not hot enough to produce the hallucination stuff in the sap, one has to stick to magic mushrooms in UK;)

............????

they are a common garden plant in the UK ...feature in many mixed borders, who mentioned drugs ??

DigForVictory

Seems they do grow & pointfully so
Must accost a few wild blooms & see if I can persuade them that soggy Lancashire is a welcoming corner.
Just remember It is illegal to produce opium from homegrown plants.

shortcrust

TonyMMM wrote: »

............????

they are a common garden plant in the UK ...feature in many mixed borders, who mentioned drugs ??

Asks the man who started a thread with opium in the title...:)

To be fair to Farway it crossed my mind that the pleasures of the poppy might be on your mind. Interesting post about it being too cold here.

Davesnave

TonyMMM wrote: »

............????
who mentioned drugs ??

shortcrust wrote: »

Asks the man who started a thread with opium in the title...:).

Err....I may be completely out of my head on tea this morning, but from my brief research, it appears TonyMMM has never started a thread.


Are you seeing things that aren't there? I remember that!