Poppy Fever

Like anyone else, some days are good and others not so much. Unfortunately, it was the latter on Tuesday and I needed some music to reinforce my mood. I flipped through my CD case and settled on some Peggy Lee and listened repeatedly to "Is That All There Is?" on my short drive home.

Feeling less disgruntled the next day, I cycled through the other songs on the CD. This CD isn't on heavy rotation in my car so I couldn't recall the songs on it. I was pleasantly surprised when "Fever" started playing. The Oriental poppies in my garden remind me of this song and right now I have poppy fever. 

It's poppy time again. The time of year when poppies start their annual bloom fest. The buds belie the flowers greatness.  Poppies herald the unofficial beginning of summer (Memorial Day) and my back garden starting to wake up.

Poppies are a sultry flower. Look even the wasps can't keep themselves away. I think that's a wasp. I have a wasps' nest in my shed that I've never figured out what to do with it. Since it's still there I have a healthy supply of pollinators. 

The pop pop pop of the buds reminds me of Peggy Lee snapping her fingers as she sings. The unfurling of the delicate petals takes my breath away. I will leave you with a few parting photos and the first stanza of "Fever."

Never know how much I love you

Never know how much I care

When you put your arms around me

I get a fever that's so hard to bare

You give me fever....

What's Blooming?

Why poppies, of course! I been wistfully waiting for the late May blooms to start.

My annual love affair with the poppy has begun. I'm not sure if I take the same photos of poppies every year, but I'm continually enchanted by them. The plant pictured above is two years old and self-seeded from one of my older plants. The flowers are only about three to four inches in diameter, but have an architectural quality about them.