In Winchester garden a poppy blows

In actual fact when I took this it wasn't blowing much. I stole the title (and amended it) from the poem that begins:
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
In Stroud at the weekend we saw many California Poppies in flower but this bright red poppy is the first in our garden. Not quite out this morning but with the promised sun tomorrow it should be stunning. I love the feathery tips and the glimpse of the black interior.
Most species of poppies are cultivated as ornamental plants. A few species have other uses as sources of drugs and foods. The opium poppy is so widely used, for both drugs and food, that its worldwide production is monitored by international agencies. It yields opium, opiates and poppy seeds for use in cooking and baking.
Of course, the poppy will always be associated with Remembrance Day. Started after WW I, those who fought in Belgium and northern France had noticed the extraordinary persistence and profusion of an apparently fragile flower: the cornfield poppy, which splashed its blood-red blooms over the fields every summer. It blooms there to this day.