Plant Poppies Early For Show Through Spring

 

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) naturally cover square miles of space but are also sowed by crews for erosion control and color.

The first wild poppies appear on the hills around Los Angeles in late December. A smattering follow in January, a surprising number bloom through February, then the hills and valleys turn into a euphoric gold carpet from March until June.

Landscape architects and horticulturists know that California poppy seeds scattered now will parallel the long natural bloom season.

Other poppy varieties can also be planted in fall in temperate zones of the country to produce a long-term show of the delicate, brightly-hued blooms.

It can be hard to locate California poppy seed, which produce good results in warm-winter climates. The shortage can be frustrating in a place where a poppy is the state flower, never-mind that the California poppy is an unsung star of international horticulture.

Even if you can find store-bought seed, it?EUR??,,????'?????<

Nobody is quite sure when the golden bloom first caught European eyes. James Curtis Clark, a professor of botany at Cal Poly Pomona, was stunned when he arrived in California from Oklahoma in the mid-1970s all set to work on his doctoral degree and found no major systematic studies of the California poppy. He’s since corrected that, and in a comprehensive website that he’s posted (https://www.csupomona.edu/jcclark/poppy), he speculates that Juan Rodr??guez Cabrillo, who set sail from Navidad, Mexico, in June 1542, must have seen virgin hillsides of Alta California still blushing gold during his trip up the coast.

Source: Los Angeles Times.