Papaver orientalis Patty's Plum

I bought two Papaver orientalis "Patty's Plum" in May. One started to produce new leaf and looked healthy. The other stayed pretty much as I bought it. Neither produced flowers. About two weeks ago the second grew new leaf and the first a flower spike. This has now gone black and drooped without opening into flower. The leaves seem unaffected. They are planted in well drained soil which has been enriched with manure and get a good amount of sun. Am I doing something wrong or is there a disease process going on here? Can anyone give me some suggestions please?

I also bought Patty's Plum this year.    All my poppies rotted off - I just put it down to the rain.    I chopped off all the foliage, and am hoping for better luck next year!    Good luck with yours.

Good luck if you can get them to flower - I bought three of them three years ago. For three years in a row - lots of leaves, no flowers and then they just give up the will to live and then die back. This year I got fed up with them and pulled them out the ground and replaced with penstamons. I'm annoyed because when I bought them they werent cheap at ??6 per pot and for last three years they seem to feature at Chelsea where they look great. But not in my garden obviously!

Oh Tim.    How disappointing, and not very encouraging for us.     However, I always take the attitude that a plant has two choices, either it grows or it doesn't.     I often tell it so, as well!     If it doesn't do well, I tell myself that it isn't my gardening skills responsible for the failure, but the climate, the plant or my soil.    There are so many beautiful flowering plants I can't get hung up over a failure or two.   Penstemons are beautiful, and so reliable.     Good luck with them. 

I bought 2 of these poppy's at the Gardening Scotland event this year - both health plants that produced a flower, even though i only planted them in a big pot until i got a space ready for them in the garden! Unfortunately, i think i mught have been mis-sold another variety as they were more peachy-pink than purple-plum as in the photos of them i've seen, and the flowers i did get got wrecked by the rain!

You live and learn lol!