Flower / Shoulder season
California Poppy
Dry borders, meadow edges, and low-water annual color.
Grown for satiny orange blooms, not food harvest.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 60
- Germination temperature
- 50-70F
- Seed depth
- 0.125 inches
- Spacing
- 8 inches
- Row spacing
- 12 inches
- Start method
- Direct sow
Frost-date timing
- Direct sow
- 28 days before last frost
- Fall planting
- 10 weeks before first frost
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow into the final bed when the soil temperature, seed depth, and moisture are ready.
- How much space?
- 8 inches in-row spacing, 12 inches between rows, and 0.125 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use this as part of a diverse flowering or herb planting, and treat companion claims as site-specific rather than guaranteed pest control.
- Common failure modes?
- Poppies dislike transplanting; direct sow where they should bloom. Low to moderate water after establishment. Lean, well-drained soil.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Low to moderate water after establishment.
- Soil
- Lean, well-drained soil.
- Watch
- Poppies dislike transplanting; direct sow where they should bloom.
- annual
- drought-tolerant
- pollinators
- containers
Browse context
- Flower Catalog Category collection
- Poppy Family Rotation and family context
- Shoulder Season Seeds Season collection
- Direct Sow Seeds Start-method collection
- Container-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Beginner-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Quick-Maturity Seeds Practical trait collection
- Fall-Planting Seeds Practical trait collection
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Source: Seed Savers seed saving guide