Life of the Red Poppy and why it's a symbol on Memorial Day (US) and Remembrance Day (UK)

Corn Poppy

Red Poppy

Shirley Poppy

Flanders Poppy

American Legion Poppy

Field Poppy

These are all names for the poppy considered by some to be the world's most popular wildflower, Papaver rhoeas.  

 How did this small annual poppy become a WWI remembrance symbol?

In Flanders (northern Dutch speaking portion of Belgium) during WWI the poppies filling the meadows and fields all but disappeared.  The fighting ravaged the land, the constant trampling and bombing took its toil;  for four seasons the poppies were unable to grow.  

When the war was over Canadian surgeon John McCrae was so moved by the poppies' return he wrote his famous poem, "In Flanders Field" on May 3, 1915, on the spot.

In Flanders Field

by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In 1918 (the year McCrae died of  a few days before the armistice was signed, a woman in the US. Moina Michael, read the poem in a magazine and was moved to pen her own,  "We Shall Keep the Faith."  To keep this faith Ms. Michael vowed to vowed to always wear a red poppy.  She started making them from fabric for herself and others, later selling silk poppies to raise money for returning soldiers. By 1920 the National American Legion had agreed to use the red poppy as its official US emblem.

Campaigns in France and England soon followed, and now millions of people in countries around the world don poppies on either Remembrance Day (also called Armistice Day), November 11, or in the United States on Memorial Day (the last Monday in May, as November 11 is Veterans Day, honoring living veterans).

 We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

Seeds counts were taken when the poppies returned to the fields of Flanders.  

More 2,500 seeds per square foot were found!

My red poppies were incredibly easy to grow, especially this year.  Last year was the first for me growing any poppy other than California poppies.  The red poppies grew from a seed mix from the Dollar Tree.  I had no idea they would self-seed so well!  If left to their own I'd probably have a bed of nothing but red poppies!  They germinated in late winter, and as you can see by the buds in the above photo, are now doing very well.  Perhaps I will toss a few ripe seed heads into the Toss Garden this summer, or even the grassy area in the far back.  Apparently the red poppy is classified as a weed, so it must be hardy!