When Kate Dixon planted a field of pink poppy seeds, she had no idea it would result in a drug task force tearing up her garden.
Ms Dixon runs a commercial flower farm on the outskirts of Hobart, supplying local florists with seasonal and perennial blooms year-round.
Each spring, her farm comes alive with bursts of colour, sprinkled between Australian natives and South African blossoms.
Nestled into a corner of her farm was a new blossom for 2022: a crop of what she thought were frilly pink poppies.
Imagine her surprise when it was Tasmania's environment department — not a blushing bride — that was interested in her blooms.
"I had an unexpected call from the department saying they'd seen some of my photos on Instagram and suspected that they were restricted poppies that you needed a licence to grow in Tasmania," Ms Dixon said.
"I was growing them purely for weddings. I had absolutely no idea."
Seeds of doubt
Ms Dixon said she bought the seeds from a registered Australian seed supplier.
An officer from Tasmania's Department of Natural Resources and Environment came to Ms Dixon's farm to inspect the flowers this week and send off samples for testing.
That revealed Ms Dixon had inadvertently planted two restricted species of poppy, the Papaver somniferum and Papaver bracteatum.
These poppies are commercially grown in Tasmania under tight restrictions to extract the alkaloid material they contain including morphine, thebaine, and codeine for use in pharmaceuticals.
The department removed 50 of the plants from Ms Dixon's farm this week.
Ms Dixon said she was shocked, and she feared others might have fallen into a similar trap accidentally.
"I've seen a lot of these poppies in backyards, and they're a cottage garden favourite," she said.
"It's a very, very tightly restricted crop. And yeah, in the wrong hands with the wrong intention, that'd be really dangerous."
A department spokesperson said it took an education approach to first-time offenders.
"The department appreciates the assistance of the property owner," they said.
"Where prohibited poppies have been found in a garden setting in the first instance our preferred approach is generally education, awareness, and to engage with the owner."
It is an offence to grow poppy varieties that contain various alkaloid compounds in Tasmania. However, some ornamental varieties can be grown in the state.
