Garden Forwardperennial
Oriental poppy
Papaver orientale
Growing guidance
Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.
Current-climate suitability
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Future-climate resilience
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Sun
Full sun
Soil moisture
free-draining, average
Heat tolerance
Up to about 42°C
Cold tolerance
Down to about -30°C
Waterlogging tolerance
1/5
Drought tolerance
4/5
Mature size
0.6–0.9 m tall, 0.7 m spread
Seasonal interest
Early summer · Scarlet
Maintenance
low
Wildlife supported
General wildlife value 3/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)
Known risks or warnings
Leaves a gap after flowering; sap irritates skin.
Toxicity: mild
Verified botanical record
- Accepted scientific name
- Papaver orientale L.
- Family
- Papaveraceae (Ranunculales)
- Rank and status
- species · accepted
- GBIF record
- Taxon 2888437
Recorded as introduced in: Afghanistan, Austria, Baltic States, Belgium, Brussels-Capital Region, Colorado, Denmark, Finland, Flemish Region, France, Great Britain, Iowa and 16 further regions
Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.
Papaver orientale, the Oriental poppy, is a perennial flowering plant native to the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran. Oriental poppies grow a mound of leaves that are hairy and finely dissected in spring. They gather energy and bloom in mid-summer. After flowering, the foliage dies away entirely, a property that allows their survival in the summer drought of Central Asia. Gardeners can place late-developing plants nearby to fill the developing gap.
Description from Wikipedia — Papaver orientale (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.
Native status and geographic context
- United Kingdom: climate-suitable
- United States: climate-suitable
- Australia: climate-suitable
Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.
Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.