Yes, the California Poppy, the State Flower, also known as Eschscholzia California. Wow, and who came up with that and what were they smoking', brah? A lot of people consider it to be a nuisance and a weed as it seems to pop up just about anywhere and everywhere.
I never really paid much attention to them until recently. When we moved into our new home up in the hills, I saw quite a few along the roadside and thought they looked rather beautiful with their pretty yellow flower which, as you can see attracts bees. It was then that I was 'schooled' in the fact that it is "illegal' to pick them, cut them, or remove them! It was also then that I learned that they were the state flower of California. Crap! And I wanted to plant some in our new backyard that we were designing.
So, what's the next step? Easy, because I was to find out that they sell them at the local nursery and we could easily pick them up there and put them in the yard. Score! On out next trip to the our local nursery, picked up a few of the one gallon California Poppy plants and spread them out on our hill. Just enough so have a smattering of pretty yellow flowers in the back amongst the many others flowers and bulbs that we have throughout the back. Yeah, not so fast, Batman. This Spring, we had a huge amount of plants come up from the dirt that was brought in for the planting that we did and, at first it all looked like carrots when it started to sprout, but later on, when they all began to bloom, we found out that we had a huge amount of, yes, California Poppies, that were brought in with the soil. Yeah, good purchase on those three one gallon plants, huh?
Oh, we have Poppies now.
Mahalo for Pollinating with Captain Bobby Mitchel
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