Georgia O’Keefee painted some brilliant portraits of red Poppies some times upto 3 feet wide and high, even bigger than the real thing in my garden.This photo shows how Red and Green work well together on a canvas or in a garden setting.
Oriental poppies are perennial and most Poppy species are easy to grow from seed of which 50 varieties are available from Thompson & Morgan >poppy Seeds .

The Poppy petals are sumptuous is texture and colour and can be very showy through-out summer if you select a range of varieties.

The buds can have a charm of their own when inspected closely as shown below. This is a pink Oriental Poppy with the familiar dark black eyes at the base of the petals. The Caylix will fall away and the petals will emerge into a blousy display. My preference is to leave the Iceland, Shirley and annual poppies varieties alone although California Poppies (Eschscholtzia are a different proposition and well worth growing).

Tips Some poppies are strong self sowers and a bit thuggish. Oriental Poppies can be grown from root cuttings or clump splitting.