California poppy

Mounds of blue-green, ferny foliage support cup-shaped flowers from late spring all through summer. The silky petals come in shades of orange, yellow, red, pink and white. Blooms, which tend to close at night and during cloudy weather, are followed by long, narrow seed pods.

They thrive in full sun and well-drained, sandy or poor soils, and are highly drought-tolerant once established. They often self-seed, returning reliably year after year.

These quick-growing annuals dislike rich, damp, or heavy soils and resent transplanting so sow in situ. Overwatering or too much fertiliser can lead to lush foliage at the expense of flowers.

California poppies were used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes as a mild sedative. Its botanical name honours the German botanist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, who was the surgeon on a Russian expedition to California in 1815.