Poppy stems are sturdy enough to easily support their blossoming heads. And yet they curve and curl, twist and bend in a slightly chaotic manner that has little to do with following the sunlight. Perhaps the poppies wish they were vines, able to grasp and twine. Poppies' erratic curves are one of the qualities that made them a flower much admired, drawn and used as inspiration by the designers from the art nouveau period. The common garden poppy cannot completely escape the whiff of danger that belongs to its cousin, the heroin poppy. All poppies have come to symbolize sleep, death and decadence. That's more than enough to inspire any artist.