Eschscholzia californica California poppyPerennial grown...

Eschscholzia californica California poppy

Perennial grown as an annual, with blue-green leaves and yellow-to-orange flowers.

It’s the California state flower, but that ranks among its lesser virtues. This cheerful, prolific wildflower would be just as desirable, just as perfect for Southern California gardens, if it held no political office.

The foliage is lacy and delicate, yet it will survive desert conditions without wilting. The flowers are as clear and bright as the sun--and like the sun, they disappear at night and on cloudy days, folding up tightly until the days turn bright again.

Best of all, the California poppy, if it has been allowed to go to seed (and preventing that will require diligent hovering and snipping), will come back year after year, in profusion and all over the yard.

If the seeds waft into a location designated for lawn only, they may be removed without remorse, because there are so many more it won’t hurt to lose a few.

The California poppy is unsuitable for containers and transplanting; it’s direct seeding or nothing. As the plant matures (occasionally reaching heights of 2 feet but more often 16 inches), it looks a bit rangy and tends to collapse onto its side. For this reason, it isn’t a good plant for the front of a border, but on a hillside, in a field or vacant lot or strewn throughout a flower bed--so it can sprawl and fill in bare patches of soil--the California poppy is in its element.

The “standard” California poppy is Orange King. But today there are several colors available in the rose and cream ranges, including a few bicolors, while varieties such as Ballerina, Monarch and Harlequin have semi-double blooms. One variety, the compact Caespitosa Sundew (available from Thompson & Morgan and Park Seed Co. catalogues), is even scented.