Six Things About Poppies You May Not Know
I thought since Remembrance Day is this week, I’d share some things about poppies. Some are about the red poppy and it’s association with Remembrance Day, and some things are about the poppy flower in general.
During WWI, poppies stopped growing in the fields because of the bombing and the trampling of soldiers over the battlefields. This lasted for four years. After the war the fields erupted in an overwhelming display of red poppies.
Poppies should be worn on your left side, as close to your heart as possible.
Have you ever noticed that Queen Elizabeth wears 5 poppies? The reason for this has never been confirmed but it’s thought they represent the five services in the war - Army, Navy, RAF, Civil Defence, and women.
The meaning of poppies is restful sleep and remembrance.
Poppies aren’t only red. They come in white and shades of pink, yellow, orange and purple.
Poppies make a great addition to a bouquet, but they have a relatively short vase-life - average of five days.
In Flanders Fields - John McCrae (1872-1918)
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.
