Papaver

Papaver orientale, the Oriental poppy, delivers one of the most spectacular single-moment displays available to Martha's Vineyard's sunny perennial borders, producing enormous crepe-paper blooms in flaming orange, red, salmon, and white in late May and early June at a scale that stops garden visitors in their tracks. It thrives in the well-drained, lean, sandy soils of coastal garden borders throughout Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, where its strong taproot anchors it firmly against coastal winds and excellent drainage prevents the crown rot that can develop in heavier soils during wet winters. As a spring-to-early-summer bloomer that goes completely dormant by midsummer, it requires companion planting with later-emerging perennials to fill the significant gaps it leaves in the border.

Deer resistance is strong. Estate Care professionals plan Papaver into border compositions carefully, pairing it with ornamental grasses, asters, and late-season perennials whose expanding foliage masks the seasonal gap left by dormant crowns.