What happened?

Whatever happened? I was expecting a rather drawn out affair with this poppy, but this morning I went out to find this amazing explosion had taken place, from bursting bud to this exuberant explosion.

I found it really hard to take the redness of the flower, it just didn't look right, is this a problem with my computer or the camera or even my ability. The red is really violent and almost neon in it's intensity - can I fix this?

It actually looks so much better in black and white - so just imagine the brillaint red.