Life Cycle

We've always had big pink fuzzy poppies, but this year they have also come up in deep purple, scarlet, and crimson. Some have the gaudy petals we are accustomed to, and others have four or five flat petals. Not at all sure where this variety comes from, but how bright and happy they look scattered over the yard. After the petals drop, the seed pods gradually dry out and are full of--what else?--hundreds of tiny black poppy seeds! Then the pods get a new life in dried flower arrangements. I always intend to use the seeds in a terrific poppyseed cake that I've made for years, but somehow I can never get all the chaff out of our harvest, so I just throw them around outside for the birds.