Stylophorum diphyllum is our native celandine poppy that grows well in dappled shade in woodland conditions.
It has cheerful yellow flowers and hairy seed pods. There are also two other woodland poppies that are native to China. All three species prefer moist soil and self-sow. They bloom in spring and intermittently into summer.
Wordsworth even wrote a poem about this unassuming charmer:
Long as there's a sun that sets,
Primroses will have their glory;
Long as there are violets,
They will have a place in story:
There's a flower that shall be mine
‘Tis the little celandine.
Comfort have thou of thy merit,
Kindly, unassuming spirit!
Careless of thy neighborhood,
Thou dost show thy pleasant face
On the moor, and in the wood,
And in the lane; there's not a place
However mean it be,
But ‘tis good enough for thee.
Wordsworth obviously was as impressed with this versatile plant as we still are today.
It is wonderful in shade gardens with companions such as forget-me-not, pulmonaria, ferns, bleeding heart, Virginia bluebells and other wild flowers.
