# Can you buy fresh cut poppies anywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231 "2011-01-11T16:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/1 "2011-01-11T16:59:25Z")
I’m looking for fresh cut poppies - is this a flower you can buy? My google-fu is weak today and all I can find is links for pods or dried flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/2 "2011-01-11T17:13:47Z")
What sort of poppies? And where? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/3 "2011-01-11T17:16:04Z")
Go look for pretty nurses. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/4 "2011-01-11T17:26:46Z")
Depends on your jurisdiction. Opium poppies are [illegal in some places](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_poppy#Legality) (including the U.S. - but there is an exception for “poppies grown or sold for ornamental or food purposes”). ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/5 "2011-01-11T17:50:35Z")
I’m in Canada - I would prefer the ornamental kind - like you would have in a flower arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/6 "2011-01-11T17:55:23Z")
Call your local florist. They’re not very popular cut flowers, so they’re unlikely to have them in stock all the time, but they can order them for you. There are many varieties of poppies, and even where banned, only opium poppies are banned, not the others. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/7 "2011-01-11T18:25:12Z")
I read the OP as “freshly cut puppies” and my mind went to a _bad_ place :(. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/8 "2011-01-11T19:23:15Z")
They drop the petals in one or two days on average, so it’s not likely you’ll find any at a florist. ---
**Author:** ![MobiusStripes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@MobiusStripes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MobiusStripes)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/9 "2011-01-11T19:24:46Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I read the OP as “freshly cut puppies” and my mind went to a _bad_ place :(. > > 🙂 I did the same thing, only as “fresh cute puppies”. I thought most already were. I seem to recall poppies being problematic as cut flowers for some reason. Excess sappy stuff? ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/10 "2011-01-11T19:39:50Z")
You can usually get potted poppies at a nursery. With the exception of the California poppy, which is not in the same botanical family, all poppies produce at least some of the narcotic substances that make law enforcement look at them funny. _Papaver somniferum_ is the specific species which produces the most narcotic chemicals, and it’s also the one with the prettiest and most specialized variations of flowers. Because of that, most florists and nurseries, if they do carry the flowers don’t post the Latin name or post the cultivar name. There really is no legitimate distinction between decorative poppies, poppies for food use (poppy seeds), and poppies which produce opium and opium derived narcotics. It’s all the same species. And the excess sappy stuff? That’s raw opium. Try not to get any on you. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/11 "2011-01-11T21:06:39Z")
Flanders? ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/12 "2011-01-11T21:09:24Z")
As a cut flower the stem needs to immediately be singed to keep the sap from making a mess/leaking into the water. This is especially true for oriental poppies. I use my own poppies in season as cut flowers, but have never encountered them at a florist. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/13 "2011-01-11T21:37:53Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > With the exception of the California poppy, which is not in the same botanical family, [These guys confuse me.](http://www.stevensandson.com/cuts/cuts/poppies.htm) They’re wholesalers to florists, and have “California Poppy”, but are calling them Papavers, and the picture is certainly not of an _Eschscholzia californica_ (what I know as “California Poppy”.) What do you suppose that’s all about? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/14 "2011-01-11T21:42:06Z")
> [@MobiusStripes](#): > > I did the same thing, only as “fresh cute puppies”. I thought most already were. Most of them are cute, yes, but it can be hard to find fresh ones out of season. You might have to settle for frozen or dried instead of fresh. I’m a bad person ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/15 "2011-01-11T21:43:42Z")
I grow these regularly, and they are not the poppy known as California’s state flower. They are what I was referring to in my previous post as the poppies I use as cut flowers from my garden in season. (Shirley or Icelandic poppies?) ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/16 "2011-01-11T21:43:55Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > They drop the petals in one or two days on average, so it’s not likely you’ll find any at a florist. In my experience with cut California poppies (the real ones), they wilt before the end of the day. They’re not meant to be sold as cut flowers. They’re meant as easy “filler” color for a spring garden. The seeds are cheap, and all you have to do is scatter them sometime in winter. In Southern California they don’t last very long in the ground, either–maybe two or three weeks. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/17 "2011-01-11T22:02:15Z")
Where I live you can see them growing all over the place on the side of the freeway but I have heard some types are ilegal to own ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/18 "2011-01-11T22:15:13Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > In my experience with cut California poppies (the real ones), they wilt before the end of the day. They’re not meant to be sold as cut flowers. They’re meant as easy “filler” color for a spring garden. The seeds are cheap, and all you have to do is scatter them sometime in winter. In Southern California they don’t last very long in the ground, either–maybe two or three weeks. I wouldn’t even bother to pick a California poppy. They are the shortest lived of all of them. Icelandic will last a couple days. Orientals will last about 3 days. I was trying to include a general time table for all poppies. They also don’t have full sized petals if you don’t let them fully open on the plant. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/19 "2011-01-11T23:26:35Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > [These guys confuse me.](http://www.stevensandson.com/cuts/cuts/poppies.htm) They’re wholesalers to florists, and have “California Poppy”, but are calling them Papavers, and the picture is certainly not of an _Eschscholzia californica_ (what I know as “California Poppy”.) What do you suppose that’s all about? 😕 These look like opium poppies to me. The clasping leaves look right. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-buy-fresh-cut-poppies-anywhere/567231/20 "2011-01-11T23:47:49Z")
> [@Bewildebeest](#): > > These look like opium poppies to me. The clasping leaves look right. I know, right? Or another cultivar of Papavers, at any rate. Those leaves just ain’t Eschscholzias. Wikipedia informs me that _Papaver nudicaule_, or [Icelandic poppies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_nudicaule), are [the most common poppies sold by florists in cut arrangements](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver), and they do come in scarlet. I guess my herb teacher was right: common names suck, and just confuse everyone. Latin is the way to go!