Guest Author: Moss Graves, 2025 Summer Education Intern

This Plants of the Week curation is to help expand our knowledge of the beauty of summer seedheads. Flowers tend to be the big shots around here, so shedding light on their altered forms can help us appreciate the life cycles of angiosperms and challenge what we believe is the standard of beauty. 

 Papaver somniferum – breadseed poppy 

When thinking of flowers, we usually imagine their showy petals and wonderful fragrance, but what about after the work of pollinators is done and flowers start to fade? Papaver somniferum, or breadseed poppy, is an eastern Mediterranean, cool season annual that offers a second life to spent blooms with their unique seed heads. The poppy seed begins its journey by germinating after a period of cold stratification breaks its enzymatic dormancy. In late spring, three foot tall, sessile, silvery-green foliage emerges on whimsical arched stems. The floral structures develop wrinkled inside of hairy, pendulous buds that burst open with crepe-paper petals bees can’t resist. P. somniferum’s gorgeous corollas look like gems speckled through drought-tolerant meadowlands, erupting the landscape with color. Whites, reds, pinks, and purples create an exciting poppy tapestry in the Entrance Garden here at Scott Arboretum & Gardens, where there is fertile soil and ample amounts of sun. 

Seemingly overnight, the pollen-induced ovules of P. somniferum quietly swell into their iconic pods, morphing the garden’s interest into something more structural. Their distinctive dehiscent fruit capsules provide architectural intrigue and create utilitarian opportunities for the gardener. Each pod is shaped like a baby’s rattle with radial vents on the top. Before the vents open, the pods can be shaken like maracas to create sound. The natural music comes from the thousands of edible seeds housed inside. When the vents finally open, the seeds shake out and self-sow creating plants for next season. The seeds can also be harvested and eaten, hence the poppy’s common name “breadseed” which are excellent in bagels and challah. The entire poppy pod and stem can also be cut and dried for floral arrangements or simply left in the garden for seed eating birds to enjoy.

Clematis integrifolia ‘Hendersonii’ –  solitary clematis

There are many varieties of Clematis on campus introduced by vine-enthusiast horticulturalists over the years, but one that stuck out to me was Clematis integrifolia ‘Hendersonii’ (solitary clematis), for its non-climbing, sprawling habit and frilled, moonlit-purple sepals that resemble urns. These magnificent flowers have glowing anthers and are situated above broad serpentine foliage, elucidating its specific epithet integrifolia meaning, “entire leaves” in Latin. This particular clematis is a very old perennial hybrid cross between Clematis integrifolia and Clematis viticella, so it is not naturally occurring in any native environment. However, within the confines of the Scott Arboretum & Gardens, we can find it creeping within well-moistened, well-draining, partly shaded borders and encroaching into pathways around the Entrance Garden. The specimen that caught my attention was winding between Lilium spp. at the Entrance Garden placard. Once identified, I discovered this plant was a seedling from an older 1987 accession. It is hard to say when this exact seedling appeared, given it is anoffspring from the mother plant located farther off in the Entrance Garden near the College Ave. Despite its mystery, the plant’s bronze, starburst seedheads did not fail to captivate me. 

The Ranunculaceae family, which houses Clematis spp., is known for their unique fruits called achenes. These Dr. Seuss plumes of ‘hair’ on the achenes are extensions of the flower’s stigmas, helping with wind dispersal; the likely method of dispersal for the happy accident of our solitary clematis’ daughter plant. Evolutionarily, I’m sure the clematis did not consider the intrigue an onlooker like me would feel when encountering these marvelous puff balls, but here we are as enthralled spectators. The fruit arrives after the late-blooming flowers have faded in summer, offering jubilation to the bored florist’s toolkit. They are bronze, silky, and seemingly exploding out from the center. These unique seed heads are an opportunity for exciting floral arrangements, will add shimmer and intrigue to your garden, and can provide habitat for wildlife. It’s worth noting that this plant will self-seed, but it is not considered aggressive and can easily be managed as it spreads joy to unoccupied corners of the garden. 

Carex grayi – gray sedge 

In my first-year garden, I made the mistake of choosing high-maintenance plants that start out spectacular, but then become dreary in the summer heat. I spent hours lamenting my choices while deadheading Petunia spp. and chopping spent Salvia spp. on hot July afternoons. As a naïve gardener, I believed uniqueness and wow-factor required effort, as if I had to earn what I sowed, but that isn’t always true. In fact, high-impact natives can satisfy the yearning we have for low-maintenance gems, leaving us more time to enjoy the garden. Carex grayi, or gray sedge, fits the bill as a North American native sedge that expands the interpretations of what we believe is natural. This plant bears an otherworldly fruit structure that resembles a medieval mace – a weapon used by knights and soldiers in war – or a sea urchin. The spikelet fruits, seeming far too large to be held up by the specimen’s delicate paper-thin leaves, are composed of clusters of inflated perigynia, each containing a single fruit called an achene. C. grayi has the largest known achene of any sedge and is a versatile facultative upland plant that can thrive in both woodlands and wetlands. The versatility of gray sedge is on display here at Scott Arboretum & Gardens, where you can find it at the Palmer Hall Rain Garden, Parish Hall North, and included in container arrangements at the Entrance Garden. The seeds of sedges are food sources for many kinds of birds and mammals and have dense, two-foot-tall foliage that shelters various native wildlife. Native planting proves that there doesn’t have to be a compromise when picking the right plant for your garden.