Les Coquelicots

As a young girl growing up in France I always loved seeing the wild poppies in the French countryside as we spent our summers traveling around the country. I think I liked saying the french word for poppies "coquelicots' as much as I loved seeing them! It tends to just roll off your tongue! Every spring when my poppies bloom it takes me back to my childhood memories. Here are a couple of my cherished coquelicots!




From Wikipedia: "A poppy is one of a group of a flowering plants belonging to the poppy family, many grown in gardens for their colorful flowers. Poppy flowers have 4 to 6 petals. Petals may be almost any color, and some have markings. Prior to blooming, the petals are crumpled in the bud, and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. A whorl of stamens is in the center of the flower. The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark blue to grey. Bees will use poppies as a pollen source."