Memorial Day Poppies

A nice surprise on Memorial Day 2010, poppies sprang up around the bird bath in the garden.

We love poppies, blood red oriental poppies. Ancient Egyptians placed garlands of poppies on mummies and the Greeks crowned their dead with the flower. Legend has it that in Europe, poppies sprang up on battlefields from the blood of slain soldiers. In the Victorian language of flowers, Poppies symbolize consolation, sleep, and rest,  and was commonly used to memorialize the dead.

“And now, my beauties, something with poison in it, I think. Something with poison in it, but attractive to the eye,  and soothing to the smell. Poppies… Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep. Sleep. Now they’ll sleep!”
-The Wicked Witch of the West