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California Poppies
by
Laine Farley
Every spring I look forward to the April issue of Texas Highways magazine that features magnificent photos of wildflowers. One of the things I miss the most about my native state is the vast fields of bluebonnets, red paintbrushes, pink primroses and magenta wine cups. As Paul Christensen, author of this year’s article says, “The wildflower trembling in a grassy field suggests magic, a gentle spirit arising from the ground each spring, whose bright colors are an annual gift to humanity from the green world.” California certainly has its share of fascinating wildflowers, and I’ve admired them on many walks in different parts of the state. But I’ve never seen the same kind of riotous and exuberant display that typically blankets the Texas plains and prairies.
The California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, has always impressed me in a different way with its singular color and silky sheen. Even an individual plant makes a splash and a close-up look is rewarded with the details of its delicate foliage and precise construction of petals and stamen. I am always attracted to bookmarks with poppies, but of the half dozen or so in my collection, only a few depict successfully the poppy’s unique qualities.
The most complete description of the California Poppy is in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s database. Along with a precise description of its characteristics, distribution and bloom times, growing conditions, propagation methods, seed sources and benefits are thirty photos of the flower in various settings with close-ups of leaves and petals. Although many photos highlight the poppy as a single plant or small cluster, a few suggested that it does indeed carpet hills in wide expanses of color. This discovery led me to find the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Although the Wildflower Status Update for 4/28/08 warned that “The peak has passed and the flowers are fading fast,” photos on the same date still impressed with vast gold colored fields. The site informs that the park occupies “California’s most consistent poppy-bearing land” and that the season usually lasts from mid-February to mid-May.
Two bookmarks from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden illustrate the difficulty in replicating the poppy’s splendor. Pressed flowers are popular bookmark adornments and many are successful in preserving the color, shape and texture of flowers. In spite of its dramatic color, the poppy does not hold up well as a pressed flower. The bookmark is nicely laid out on pleasing textured translucent paper, but the color is pale and the finely lobed leaves appear to be dyed dark green instead of the grayish green of the plant. Another marker with an artist’s rendition depicts the leaves with delicacy. In an attempt to portray the sheen of the petals, the artist used tiny lines with mixed results, and the petals don’t exhibit the gracefulness of the real thing.
Carl James Freeman, an illustrator of flora and fauna whose distinctive pen and ink bookmarks are common in the gift shops of state parks, does a nice job of showing the poppy with its petals furled. The reverse provides a succinct description of its characteristics and habitat. But the poppy demands color and a view of its petals open and welcoming the sun.
It would seem that photography is a better medium for capturing the poppy’s colors and profile. For example, one of Richard Dickey’s photographs in his Feral Flowers series, “setting sunlight on hill of poppies ,” showcases the full effect of a carpet of poppies as well as a closer view of individual plants. It would make a great bookmark. The web site, Botany Flower of the Day , led me to Dickey whose work was cited. The discussion on this page reminds us that much of the poppy’s habitat is already gone and more is at risk. A commenter from Wales noted that the same flowers grow there but are known as Welsh Poppies (of course).
Surprisingly, an old leather bookmark with a painted poppy does a good job of capturing the essence of the flower, even though it is rather crudely drawn. There is something about the paint color and the burnished highlights that draw the eye in the same way as the real flower. Many of these leather tourist bookmarks, possibly from the 1920s and 1930s, have a similar rustic charm.
Even better and even older is a celluloid bookmark made by the Whitehead and Hoag company for the Los Angeles Times. The top follows the shape of the petal’s edge and a page flap is cut in a mirrored shape. The open flower is detailed and blended with orange and yellow, a furled flower and bud show the progression of bloom, and the leaves are finely drawn. To add even more interest, the reverse features a detailed period illustration of the Times building along with a branch from an orange tree. I think the “NEA Souvenir” refers to the National Education Association which did hold its 1899 meeting in Los Angeles. It would have made a fitting bookmark for The Golden Poppy by Emory Evans Smith, published in 1902. This little book provides history and lore about the poppy and its appearance in literature, art, photography, music and religion.
My favorite bookmark featuring the California poppy has to be one based on a drawing by the artist Lucia Kleinhans Mathews, who along with her husband Arthur, worked in the Arts and Crafts style in San Francisco following the earthquake in 1906. In addition to paintings and drawings, they produced furniture, murals, stained glass and decorative art, each with a distinctive but harmonious style. They also owned Philopolis Press “which published the monthly magazine Philopolis (“published for those who care”) and books and ephemera (note cards, calendars, bookmarks) designed by Arthur and Lucia that are prized as collectors’ items.”
Recently, the Oakland Museum held an exhibit celebrating their work called California as Muse: The Art of Arthur & Lucia Mathews. Lucia’s small drawing, “California Poppies in a Tall Goblet,” was on a side pillar in the main exhibition room, but immediately caught my eye. It captures the jewel-like quality of the poppy flowers, reiterated in the stained glass effect on the goblet’s base. The gold leaf highlights on stem and flowers suggest silkiness and elegance, as do the positions of the petals. The exhibit did not include any examples of the bookmarks produced by their press, but the reproduction of this drawing as a bookmark surely captured the spirit of their work.
While researching the Mathews’ work, I was delighted to discover that some of their books have been digitized as part of the project my library is participating in with Microsoft and Internet Archive. A curious little volume called The Clouds and Fogs of San Francisco by Alexander McAdie, published by Philopolis Press in 1912 features chapter headings of stylized flowers that could well be poppies designed by Lucia Mathews. (Try the “flip book” version from the link above for the best view).
California poppies have an elegance and delicacy all their own but they are not just another pretty flower. As Hanna, a gardener in Cleveland, Ohio, informs in her blog along with some spectacular photos, the poppy has been a source of food, oil and cosmetics long before it was named California’s state flower in 1903. She also notes that the delicate flowers can withstand wind gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour in their favorite habitat and are “well adapted to taking a beating and being beautiful while they do so.” The video, California Poppies in the Antelope Valley, supplies a nice glimpse of poppies at their best, “vibrant and strong and blindingly bright.” And you can celebrate Poppy Week, May 13-18, with the California Poppy Song.
Bookmark specifications: Blossoming California Poppies
Dimensions: 2 1/4” x 9”
Material: Paper, laminated
Manufacturer: L. & D. Klein, Arcata, CA
Date: 1985
Acquired: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Bookmark specifications: [California poppies]
Dimensions: 2 1/4” x 8 1/4”
Material: Pressed flowers on paper, laminated
Manufacturer: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Date: 1996?
Acquired: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Bookmark specifications: California Poppy
Dimensions: 1 1/2” x 6”
Material: Paper
Manufacturer: Carl James Freeman
Date: 1989
Acquired: San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Bookmark specifications: Poppy
Dimensions: 1 1/4” x 7 1 / 2”
Material: Wood
Manufacturer: The Frog’s Leap
Date: 2005
Acquired: Border’s Bookstore
Bookmark specifications: Long Beach Cal.
Dimensions: 1 5/8” x 7”
Material: Leather
Manufacturer: Unknown
Date: 1930s?
Acquired: eBay
Bookmark specifications: NEA Souvenir
Dimensions: 1 5/8” x 5 1/4”
Material: Celluloid
Manufacturer: Whitehead & Hoag
Date: 1899?
Acquired: eBay
Bookmark specifications: California Poppies in a Tall Goblet by Lucia K. Mathews
Dimensions: 2 1/4” x 7 1/4”
Material: Paper
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
Date: 2006
Acquired: Oakland Museum of California
Laine Farley is a digital librarian who misses being around the look, feel and smell of real books. Her collection of over 3,000 bookmarks began with a serendipitous find while reviewing books donated to the library. Fortunately, her complementary collection of articles and books about bookmarks provides an excuse for her to get back to libraries and try her hand at writing about bookmarks. Farley’s web site is Collecting Bookmarks (Physical, not Virtual), and she can be reached at
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