Of these things, I’ve seen a few, but I’ve not seen many more.
Thus what follows is based instead on little bits of lore.
The California Poppy, the California Gold Poppy, Eschscholzia californica, a California wild flower, is said to be native to:
- California
- Coastal Oregon
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Sonora
- northwestern Baja California
The California Poppy is said to likely be found in:
- forest
- chaparral (hardy shrubland)
- grassland
- northern coastal scrub
- coastal prarie
The California Poppy is said to seem comfortable in:
- elevations between – 10 and 11, 310 feet / -3 and 3447 meters
- sandy soils
- clay soils
- loamy soils
- soils that drain well
- soils which are nutrient poor
- soils with a pH ranging from 5 – 8
- full sun
- partial shade
The California Poppy is said to:
- close its petals at night
- close its petals in cold or windy weather
- fruit slender capsules which turn dry and brown
when its seeds are ready - grow well near lupines. phacelias, clarkias, abronias,
California buckwheat, white sage, Chinese houses,
and California fuchia - attract bees, Acmon blue butterflies, Mormon metalmark butterflies, dotted blue butterflies, veined blue butterflies, and buckwheat borer moths
The California Poppy is said to be:
- of delicate scent
- easy to care for
- drought tolerant; with a need for only a bit of water once per month, maybe twice in summer
- summer deciduous; they may fade in summer heat,
yet spring back to life in the fall
Sources:
https://calscape.org/Eschscholzia-californica-(California-Poppy)?srchcr=sc5d479fc321883
https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=3512https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ESCA2
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=eschscholzia+californica