Plant ID card |
|
|---|---|
Botanical name |
Eschscholzia californica. |
Common name |
California poppy, American poppy. |
Family |
Papaveraceae. |
Origin |
California, southwest United States. |
Dimensions |
Between 20 and 50 cm high by 15 cm wide. |
Foliage |
Compound, jagged leaves, bluish green in color. |
Bloom |
In summer, orange-yellow, tulip-shaped flowers. |
Fruiting |
Small green capsules, called “siliques”, contain small black and round seeds. |
Exposure |
Sunny. |
Ground |
Sandy, light, poor, well drained. |
Rusticity |
The seeds are hardy down to -15°C. |
This pretty plant also easily finds its place in our gardens, in a flower bed, in a flowery meadow or a maintenance-free rock garden.
Very easy to grow, it seduces both by its bright flowering and by the little care it requires.
The California poppy, an orange “poppy”
The California poppy is a creeping plant in the Papaveraceae family, like the poppy.
It produces, from May to the end of September, flowers with four petals,
flamboyant orange,
of delicate appearance.
Some cultivars have cream, scarlet, pink or mauve colors.
This perennial is grown as an annual and reseeds easily.
It thus reappears from year to year and can even become invasive.
Very honey-producing, the flowers attract many bees, but also butterflies.
They have the particularity of opening only under the rays of the sun.
The California poppy is a creeping plant in the Papaveraceae family, like the poppy.
Copyright (c) 2016 Peter Turner Photography/Shutterstock.
No use without permission.
Where and how to plant the California poppy?
The California poppy thrives in light, sandy, poor, even limestone and dry soil.
It can therefore find its place in the most difficult places in your garden, as long as they are sunny and well drained: these are its only requirements!
California poppies have difficulty transplanting.
The simplest is to
sow them directly in place
, between March and June, broadcast.
Then scratch the soil to lightly cover the seeds.
Maintain humidity until rising.
The seeds germinate in 10 to 15 days.
You can then thin out to leave only one plant every 20 cm.
If you live in an area with mild winters, you can sow in fall, from September to October.
The poppies will then flower earlier the following year.
How to maintain California poppies?
California poppies do not need any special care: this is their great advantage!
They tolerate even prolonged droughts and are resistant to diseases and pests.
Remove spent flowers occasionally to
encourage the appearance of new flowers.
However, leave them at the end of the season, if you want your poppies to reseed.
Copyright (c) 2022 Joe Kuis/Shutterstock.
No use without permission.
What are the other varieties of the California poppy?
Eschscholzia californica
has produced numerous cultivars, including:
Eschscholzia californica
'Ballerina', with double or semi-double red, pink, yellow or orange flowers;
Eschscholzia californica
'Dali', with scarlet red flowers;
Eschscholzia californica
'Creamy White Milkmaid': with large ivory flowers;
Eschscholzia californica
'Purple Gleam', with purple flowers with a pink center;
Eschscholtzia californica
'Thai Silk', with semi-double and striped flowers.
What are the benefits of California poppy?
Considered a medicinal plant, the California poppy is used in herbalism for
its anxiolytic, spasmolytic and sedative properties.
Its petals, which contain californidine and protopine, are consumed as a herbal tea to calm the nervous system and promote sleep.
Be careful not to confuse the California poppy
with the sleeping poppy,
or opium poppy (
Papaver somniferum
).
The latter indeed presents risks to consumption, in particular addiction effects, from which the California poppy is exempt.
As for poppy seeds, they are used in cooking to decorate, for example, breads and pastries;
they are rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins.