Poppies in nature

Description

"Neath the blue of the sky, in the green of the corn, It is there that the regal red poppies are born!"The Garden of Sleep by Clement Scott. The poppy used for remembrance in Wales and the rest of the UK is Papaver rhoeas, sometimes called the Corn, Common or Flanders Poppy. Corn Poppies grew on the First World War battlefields, as these fields had been used to grow corn and wheat. Poppies have always been linked with cereal growing, as their seeds were brought into Wales mixed with corn and wheat seeds.Poppies grow among crops, flowering from April to October. This means the poppy can flower and set seed before the cereal crop can slow its growth.Poppies have declined in the countryside since the Second World War, when increased pressure for food production meant more use of weed-killers and fertilizers and changes in farming practices.