Poppy Ladybird

Scarlet cups with a huge black blotch at the base of each petal, so the four together make a bold black cross at the centre of the flower. It is where the name comes from and it is unmistakable. It holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit.

It is bushier and more compact than the field poppy, at 45 to 50cm, with the same tissue-paper petals. Where 'Flanders Red' is delicate and drifting, this is emphatic, and one plant carries across a border in a way the field poppy does not. Bees work it hard for the dark high-protein pollen, and the open cup shape means they get to it easily.

Sow direct where it is to flower, because poppies do not transplant. Surface-sow and do not cover, since the seed needs light. Autumn sowing gives stronger plants than spring. Do not feed it, and thin to 20 or 25cm. To cut it, take the bud just as it is splitting and sear the stem end immediately with a match, or the milky sap runs and the flower collapses in the vase.