Oriental poppies are spring blooming flowers, with crepe-paper-like petals. The plants have lush, green foliage that dies down after blooming. After the blooms have finished blooming and the foliage starts to turn yellow, cut down to the ground. This time of year the green foliage reappears. Because of the spot they leave after bloom, plant something that will fill in the space--mums, asters, sun-loving annuals such as petunias, marigolds or daisies can fill in the void. They come in all sorts of shades of pink, red, orange, plum, and white. They are easy to propagate--just take a healthy leaf with the root attached. I use a rooting hormone--just wet the root bottom and dip into the rooting powder. Plant, keeping moist, but not wet until the root is growing and viable. Poppies don't have many problems and need full sun. They shouldn't require dividing for 4-5 years, or until the crown is woody and the plant's blooms dwindle in size or numbers. They're not fragrant, but an arrangement of them can be spectacular.
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