SCARLET POPPY, or Papaver rhoeas, commemorates our military heroes. During World War I, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, an Allied surgeon, witnessed the bright red poppies that bloomed over soldiers’ graves. His poem, “In Flanders Fields,” gave voice to the fallen. Professor Moina Michael of The University of Georgia read it in Ladies Home Journal and wrote, “We Shall Keep the Faith,” to avow that the soldiers would not be forgotten. She began the tradition of selling red silk poppies to honor our veterans.