A Poppy Palooza!

Oriental Poppy

I have a love affair with poppies, and the oriental poppy flower is luxurious. 

Poppy with sepals just opening to give a glimpse of what is within...

I love all parts of the poppy flower, and it is so exciting to see the sepals of the flower bud starting to separate to reveal the flower within. The sepals are hard casings with spines that protect the delicate leaves. I took this photo yesterday, and had to wait patiently until this morning to see the result because, unfortunately, the poppies tend to pop their sepals overnight.

Lo and behold, the poppy still had one sepal attached, although it should pop off sometime today.

Detached sepal

Here is a detached sepal I found sitting upside down on some leaves below the flower.

Sepal

And here is the topside of the sepal.

The morning light was perfect for photographing the poppies.

They are such a brilliant orange color against the purple of the dame's rocket flowers.