are you suggesting.. the pix upon which you purchased the seed were not true to form??? ... thats usually the marketing gimmick ...

also ... i bet there was a moment in time.. during the day.. say.. dusk or dawn .. when they were the color you wanted ... but you missed it ... i didnt realize how important this was.. until i started taking pix.. after dinner ... and as the sun went down.. the color of the plants APPEARED to have changed ...

i dont know of any TRUE pink or purp ....

ken

It didn't matter what time of day or night I looked at the poppies. Photos were not the issue for me with oriental poppies. Yes, the photos often do lie, I heartily agree with you. I just wish they were honest enough in the word descriptions. It sure makes a gardener waste a lot of time and money. I found this extremely frustrating with daylilies searching for pinks and purples. After spending years on them I gave up, finding "Prairie Blue Eyes" and "Hint of Blue" to be fairly close to a purple in my garden and "French Tudor" reasonably pink..

As to oriental poppies I've heard of "Patty's Plum" and almost bought a "Central Park" from the description and photo except I've seen it online called it a wine red, and seen photos that seen to go alone with that. Another I thought might be a winner was "Plum Pudding'. Perhaps others have grown these enough to give an opinion?

Pink and purple are both words that seem to mean different things to different people so I'm not sure exactly what color you're seeking. I have Patty's Plum - It's not what I think of when I think of either pink or purple - but I'm not sure what I'd call the color! It's a very 'dusty' color that is nor readily categorized IMO. The color in this picture is pretty true to what it really looks like:

How nice to hear from both of you.

Maozamon, so generous of you. I see you are in Ohio and I'm not sure about cross border seeds regulations. Perhaps others know about small amounts of flower seeds over the border. Woodyoak. I agree that looks more pink than purple and dusty but still pretty and neither red nor orange, so to me that's all good :) My problem is when it's called purple and is truly much more red than purple or called pink and much more of an orange base.

Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape' is the only poppy I grow so it remains true to seed. Nice purple with grey green foliage. Don't think I could send seed to Canada though, eh?

That is a lovely poppy. I was actually looking for a perennial oriental poppy, but.. There does seem to be a lot of discussion on shipping into Canada on the seed forum http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1415888/wanted-on-sending-seed-to-canada?n=27 . I guess there is a risk of them not getting through. Some recommend identifying that there are "garden seeds" on the outside of the envelope and others think it wiser not to bother to have more of a chance to get to the Canadian destination. Being poppy seeds perhaps just as well not to identify on the outside of the envelope, since at least the annual one is opium poppy. Some say that it isn't worth the effort to ship across because they have had bad experience.

But, according to this 2013 site small amounts of flower seed are permitted without declaration information nor the seed analysis certificate.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/plants/seeds/imports/abcs-of-importation/eng/1347740952226/1347741389113#y

Frankly I'm a bit confused with all this now.

these were planted from a packet of coral reef. the flowers ranged from almost white to considerably pinker-none were what i would call coral.

There are any number of good pink oriental poppies on the market. Purples are less common and like the previous poster describing 'Patty's Plum', "purple" may be a bit of an exaggeration depending on how you define that color ;-)) A few years back, a number of oriental poppies in rather unique colors were introduced to market called informally the "New York" collection - 'Manhattan', 'Harlem', 'Brooklyn', 'Central Park'........ These all featured a pinky-purpley-winey-maroon coloring in varying degrees. Certainly worth seeking out. A couple of other choices I'd personally recommend are 'Blackberry Queen', 'Watermelon' and 'Earl Grey'.

If you wanted a poppy that comes true to its described flower color, I'd go with a started plant rather than seeds. Most of these plants should be available by mail order.

http://Oriental poppy cultivars

Yes, buying a plant is more likely going to get something true to color - so long as they don't have the wrong tag. Boy, that's happened to me!

I have finally figured out how the message system (or e-mail) among members works. I used to like the old system where you could message anyone without fuss. Apparently you need to mutually be "following" each other in your home page. Cross border seems to be a bit of a gamble from some of the seed exchange forum stories. I'd welcome a Canadian seed donor. If anyone within Canada has any "Patty's Plum" or "Plum pudding" perennial oriental poppy seed I'd like to get some seed for self addressed stamped envelope (sase). Woodyoak would you have seeds for sase? If anyone would, please let me know so we can both "follow" each other and exchange information.

I have never saved seeds from the poppy so I don't have any now. If you still need some come mid-late June, I could save some for you if you let me know that you still want them. (I've added myself to your followers...)

mary_rockland(USDA4 Ottawa) - We are neighbors, just over an hour apart. I have a poppy about the same color as shown by daves10 in his first pic. I would save seed from this one for you.

So now you could have a pink and a purple.

It is funny how we each define color. I would say "coral" perfectly describes what I see in Dave's pictures. If the color is critical to enjoying the flower, the only guarantee to getting exactly what you have in mind is to buy the plant in bloom from a nursery.

Martha

Actually I think coral is a good description for the poppy in Dave's photo too. It is a pretty color, especially combined with other deep blue flowers or deep purples. Photos can be deceiving, especially pale ones, but I see that poppy colour as having an orange undertone - like a drop of orange paint, perhaps half a drop of red, with lots of white added. For me pink can't have any orange undertone. Pink would be a drop of red paint with lots of white with no orange undertone. When it comes to calling anything mauve or purple or plum I think - a drop of red paint, 1 or more drops of blue and lots of white and / or some black for darker shades. Forgive me if I seem picky - I trained as a florist so I think in pure colours from the colour wheel.

Totally agree Mary and docmom- Mrs Perry is an old pink that should be widely available as well as Victoria Louise.

Although this post is 8 years old- all of the information was exactly what I was wondering about! Thank you!!!

maozamom NE Ohio

Do you know the name of the Lilac colored poppy?- or do you still offer seeds? I could share something back that you may want to plant? I have Purple Bean Hyacinth Seeds I can share!

Lilac colored oriental poppy is called 'Patty's Plum'. Similar but not as large is 'Little Patty'.

Oriental poppies take a couple of seasons before they bloom if grown from seed. Faster to purchase started plants.

If you ever come across a variety called Karine, well worth getting. The flowers tend to look better, for longer, than most of the extra frilly orientals.

Probably better to shop for a named cultivar. The upside is that orientals often come as bare-roots which are super reliable and have much cheaper postage costs.

Gardengal48 and rosaprimula thanks both of you for that excellent information- I'm saving it to my Pintrest garden info files!