I have been sorting through some of last season's PAPAVER images. Seen here is an 'Oriental Poppy' (not to be confused w/ the Opium Poppy variety) The dazzling 'Oriental Poppy' is a scarlet-orange flower made famous by artist Georgia O'Keeffe's beautiful paintings and are one of the most brilliant perennials in my late spring/early summer gardens.

Also known as 'Paper Poppy' here in the North-East, flowers appear to be fashioned of crepe paper and can be almost 6" across on stems to 3' in height. Definitely a show stopper in my gardens. The gorgeous shot of color these huge crepe-petaled blooms give my gardens is, unfortunately, all too brief....blossoms last just one short week....once in early June and again in September.

In the image seen here (mid-day- slightly overcast sky) I was concentrating on showing that lovely crepe-paper like blossom pushing it's way out of it's bright green, very hairy shell....only a couple of days from this image until the entire 5-6" flower would be fully open. I am always surprised how this massive blossom actually fits inside this little seed pod.