142 GARDENING WITH BRAINS 



the Opium; Burbank has had Orientals at 

 Sebastopol with blossoms measuring almost a 

 foot across; but even when much smaller they 

 daze the color sense with a cardinal so bright 

 as to be vibrant to the eye. The passion for 

 varied and improved forms and colors has, of 

 course, not passed by these poppies, which may 

 now be admired in crimson, scarlet, yellowish, 

 apricot pink, and dull white. The Oriental 

 poppy is a perennial and almost indestructible. 

 Those who don't know its habits are sometimes 

 dismayed to find all traces of the plants gone in 

 midsummer; but in the autumn they come up 

 again fresh and smiling. Unlike other poppies, 

 they transplant easily. 



Of the Opium poppies the finest is the un- 

 fringed, snow-white variety. Burpee has it. 

 It is divinely tall, holding up, a foot or more 

 above other poppies, its enormous cup it 

 might be the Cup of the Holy Grail. The opium 

 exudes from the seed capsules. But if you 

 smoke it you could hardly dream of more 

 marvelous new poppies than I am writing about. 



I have often wondered why Dreer is appar- 

 ently the only seedsman who offers the Darwin, 

 one of the most dazzlingly beautiful of all 

 poppies, as noteworthy and unique as the 

 popular Darwin tulips. It has a rich, satiny 

 texture; some of the flowers have petals of a 

 rich, reddish, plum color, or heliotrope, some- 

 times shading into lighter bands on the edge; 



