Poppies, a birthday flower of February 23rd

The poppy flower / poppies (ポピー / ヒナゲシ)  are one of at least three birthday flowers on February 23rd annually. The other two that I know of are Daphne Odora and Apricot blossom. There are some truly stunning poppy fields to be found around the country in spring. There are also several poppy festivals.

The season spreads from April to June. Starting with Icelandic Poppies, around April, followed by Shirley Poppies in May, but you can see Shirley Poppies in April too sometimes. Moreover, depending on the region, you can find them in June too. In the Japanese “hanakotoba” language of flowers, poppies represent ‘caring’ (いたわり), ‘compassion’ (思いやり), ‘premonition of love’ (恋の予感) and ‘cheerful and kind’ (陽気で優しい). But they also have meanings by their color too.

Surprisingly, poppies are only the birthday flower of February 23rd. Some flowers represent several different dates and with poppies being so popular in Japan, I am surprised that they are only the birthday flower of one date. However, Icelandic Poppies are the birthday flower of two different dates: March 2nd and 4th.