California Poppy Apricot Chiffon

It is best to remove any grasses or weeds from the area before planting your California Poppy Seeds. You'll find almost all wildflowers do better when they aren't competing with other grasses and weeds for sunlight. You want to ensure this is well draining, or moderately moist soil, so mix in some sandy or loam if you have hard or heavily clay based soil types. If sown in areas where the soil is too rich and fertile, the poppies will produce foliage with few flowers. 

Cover the seeds with 0.15cm of soil. Water immediately after sowing and keep the soil moist until the seedlings develop their first leaves.

California Poppies prefer coolness for germination. In the cooler areas sow in early May out of doors where they are to grow. May be started early indoors if transplanted with care. Flowers are pretty shades of cream, gold, yellow and rosy red. Poppies have lovely blue-green, lacy foliage.

Reduce watering of California poppies once they become established. Water plants one or two times per week only during periods of no rainfall. They are highly drought-tolerant and will suffer if kept too moist. Problems such as powdery mildew or mold will form on the plants' leaves if excessive watering is prolonged. Their roots will begin to rot and die back, affecting the health of the plant. If rainfall occurs, do not provide additional water.

Fertilize California poppies only when they appear to be unhealthy with yellow leaves. Apply a 10-10-10 nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizer at the recommended rate on the label. Do not fertilize California poppies under any other circumstance, as excess fertilization will stop blooming and can harm the plants.

Extremely easy for seed savers. When the blooms fade a long narrow seedpod is formed, turning from green to brown. Once the seedpod turns brown, simply cut off and allow to completely dry before cracking open and removing the hundreds of small sand-like seeds. Store seeds in a cool dry area.

California poppy seeds produce heat loving annuals that are botanically distinct from their cousins in the genus Papaver. Although the shape of their flowers is quite similar to regular poppies, they are low growing and heat loving. In the right conditions they can self sow, but they will not infest the landscape. California poppies are members of the genus Eschscholzia, named in honour of the botanist Johann von Eschscholtz.