THE simple power of a flower. The bright red Flanders poppy has been and will always remain the great symbol of Remembrance Day and Anzac Day.
The tradition began in the non-stop horror and slaughter of trench warfare during World War 1.
This common red poppy astonished troops in Flanders because it clearly survived and defiantly flowered even in the most desolated, shell-pitted battlefield.
Actually Flanders, or corn, poppies are highly-attractive weeds that can still be seen growing among wheat, barley or other cereal crops in Britain and Europe.
They are able to survive because the highly-viable seeds can lie dormant in the soil for many years.
They freely germinate among the food plants in newly-sown grain crops and are able to grow, flower and scatter new seeds well before harvesting.
Seeds are available and can be sown through the growing season, although spring and early summer are the best times.
Usually one sowing is enough, especially if the plants are allowed to seed where they have been growing.
The seedlings come up every year, usually from late winter onwards.
All poppies are members of the papaver tribe; the ancient name supposedly represents the sound made by someone chewing the edible seeds of some poppies.
In fact the seeds of the opium poppy have been used to decorate or flavour breads and rolls for generations, particularly in Europe and parts of Asia.
In Tasmania during the December, the opium poppy crops (politely and carefully referred to as oil poppies) are in full bloom.
Huge paddocks of pale mauve can be seen for many kilometres and viewed from an aircraft - the sight can be overwhelming.
The mature poppy heads are harvested to extract valuable drugs and special alkaloids to be processed and used for medicinal purposes.
Perhaps the perennial Oriental poppy (Papaver oriental) is still considered to be the most flamboyant of all.
Colours are a dazzling orange - occasionally bright pink - often with a black blotch at the base of each petal.
At least one cultivated form produces large, bright orange-red flowers with distinctively fringed petals.
Oriental poppies are the great survivors of drought-ravaged gardens in many parts of southern Australia.
We have several different types in our garden, with the most spectacular being a highly-prolific producer of dozens of enormous, bright orange, blotch-free flowers with great, jet-black clusters of stamens in the centre of each.
I discovered this perennial poppy in the long-deserted remnant of a garden around the crumpled foundations of an old cottage, last occupied around 1910.
I also dug up some narcissus bulbs that turned out to be small, enchanting, highly-fragrant jonquils with snow-white petals and lemon-yellow trumpets.
These are remarkable because they are just coming into bloom now in early November - surely the latest-flowering of all jonquils.
I couldn't resist planting a handful of the bulbs in a field next to our garden.
They have been totally neglected and yet there are now hundreds of them.
As an experiment I intend to lift some of these bulbs in January and replant them in a special, sunny bed with some of the fringed Oriental poppies and behind these, lots of bearded irises.
They will all flower together next November. I can hardly wait.
