California poppies are delightful, bushy plants with silky, four-petaled, cup-shaped flowers in shades of yellow, orange, and red. The flowers open on sunny days, and only last a day, but the plant blooms profusely in spring to early summer. Foliage is green-grey and deeply cut, nearly ferny in appearance. Plants may grow 8 to 20 inches tall, depending on the variety.
Prefers sandy, poor, gravelly soils that are very well drained. Grow in full sun. A perennial, it is treated as an annual here as it isn't cold hardy. However, if in the right place it will reseed with abandon and poppies will abound year after year. They do not transplant well, so starting from seed is the best means of adding this to your garden.