Yellow California Poppy, Golden Poppy – Care Instructions

The flower owes its popular name “sleepy hat” to the two green sepals that wrap tightly around the closed flower. When the four petals want to unfold, the sepals push up so that the inflorescence is reminiscent of great-grandfather’s sleepyhead.

location and soil conditions

The prudent choice of location sets the course for uncomplicated care of gold poppies. If you plant the flower in the following location, cultivation requires little gardening attention:

• Full to sunny location
• Poor in nutrients, sandy-gravelly to sandy-loamy soil
• Dry to fresh soil, well drained and deeply loose
• An optimal pH of 5.8 to 7.5

Yellow Californian poppies are impressively displayed in tubs and flower boxes. If you use commercially available potting soil as a substrate, adding quartz sand, expanded clay or lava granules improves permeability.

pour

In the Central European climate, Californian poppies are content with natural rainfall. Only reach for the watering can during a summer drought and water the flower in the early morning hours or in the evening. It is better not to let the water splash onto the delicate blossoms from above, but pour it directly from the spout onto the root area.

Gold poppies should be watered more frequently in flower boxes and tubs. Therefore, check the surface of the substrate every few days. When the top 2-3 centimeters have dried out, water thoroughly to moisten the lower areas of the taproot as well. A coaster is emptied after 20 minutes at the latest to prevent waterlogging.

Fertilize

With regard to the nutrient supply, the sleepyhead proves to be just as frugal. In sufficiently humus-rich soil, no fertilization is usually required. If the flower succeeds in rooting itself deep in the soil, it will thrive in mild regions for several years. In this case, from the second year onwards, starting fertilization in March/April is advisable.

In the poor sandy soil of a roof garden or gravel bed, we recommend adding a portion of compost with horn shavings and some rock dust about 6 weeks after planting or sowing. In the pot or flower box, apply liquid fertilizer in a diluted concentration every 30 days. It is more convenient to use a long-term fertilizer for flowering plants in the form of sticks or cones. Such preparations are added to the substrate once and constantly release small amounts of nutrients throughout the season.

To cut

A pruning per se is not included in the care program. Cultivated as an annual flower, all parts of the plant will eventually die after the first frost. In regions with mild winters, yellow California poppy has the potential to become a perennial. In this case, leave the dead leaves in the bed as natural winter protection and cut them off close to the ground in early spring.

Although the visual appearance and the growth height suggest that gold poppy is not suitable as a vase decoration. If you cut off the stems for this purpose, the disappointment is great, because the flowers collapse within a short time. In the bed or pot, however, the flowers remain in bloom from May to October.

hibernate

If you cultivate your garden in a climatically sheltered location, the golden poppy proves to be a perennial perennial. The flower accomplishes this feat primarily in a deeply loose soil where the taproot can develop stably. This is how the sleepyhead in the bed gets through the cold season well:

• Cut off the withered flowers in autumn if seeding is not desired
• Cut the fallen leaves close to the ground in late winter at the earliest
• If in doubt, cover the golden poppy with leaves, straw, brushwood or a reed mat before the first frost
• Water on a mild day when there is a clear frost

In the balcony box or pot there is always a risk that the root ball will freeze through. If there is a change between frost and thaw as a result, the plant cells cannot withstand this strain and burst. You will then wait in vain for a bloom next year. Therefore, carry gold poppies in a planter before winter to a frost-free area that can also be dark. Cut off all parts of the plant to prevent disease and pests. To keep the root ball from drying out, water the California poppy every now and then.

Diseases

Its poison content does not completely protect the golden poppy from diseases and pests. After all, voracious snails give the flower a wide berth. The following problems are to be expected with the sleepy hat:

Powdery mildew
If yellowish spots and a mealy-grey coating develop on and under the leaves of the basal rosette, the plant is infected with the fungal spores of powdery mildew. This disease is often rampant in the garden during warm, humid summers and does not spare the golden poppy. You will not want to resort to chemical pesticides in a natural garden. As long as you have a can of fresh milk in the fridge, you are well protected against powdery mildew and downy mildew . The lecithin it contains reliably destroys the pathogens, at least in the early stages of infestation. How to do it right:

• Add 100 ml fresh milk to 900 ml water
• Add a dash of dish soap for better adhesion to the leaves
• Pour the mixture into a pressure sprayer and apply every 2-3 days
• Always treat the top and bottom of the foliage

Do not use UHT milk, because all useful microorganisms have been destroyed during pasteurization. Soft rainwater should be used instead of hard tap water so that the leaves do not show any limescale.

pests

Aphids
These tiny, wingless or winged pests explode through the foliage, stems and flowers of golden poppies. You should therefore regularly check the underside of the leaves for green, brown or black lice. The earlier you intervene against the plague, the more effective it will be. The following control methods on a natural basis have proven themselves in the home garden:

• Dissolve 30-35 grams of pure curd soap in 1 liter of hot water, allow to cool and spray repeatedly
• Mix fresh milk and water in a ratio of 1:2, add a splash of dish soap and use several times

As California yellow poppies do not like contact with excessive moisture, alternatively use pure wood ash as a dry control agent. If you sprinkle the fine ash on the infested flowers, the aphids will quickly flee. Rock dust, applied with a powder sprayer, takes the same line and finally works against the pests without the use of water.

Beautiful varieties

As golden poppies took the hearts of home gardeners by storm, creative breeders set out to produce more ornamental varieties. The following selection presents successful hybrids:

Californian Poppy – Eschscholzia californica ‘Peach Sorbet’
A picturesque variety with double double flowers and a dreamy color combination of soft champagne pink and soft creamy white over dark green leaves.

• Growth height 25 cm
• Flowering period from June to September

California Poppy – Eschscholzia californica ‘Cherry Swirl’
This hybrid features cherry red, semi-double flowers with a yellow heart. The ideal golden poppy for the balcony box and as an underplanting in the large tub.

• Growth height 25 cm
• Flowering time from July to September/October

California Poppy – Eschscholzia californica ‘Butter Bush’
Bright yellow flowers with deep yellow eyes characterize this ingenious variety, which from afar reminds of giant buttercups. Bees, bumblebees and butterflies will happily swarm around this sleepyhead.

• Growth height up to 50 cm
• Flowering period from June to October

Californian poppy – Eschscholzia californica ‘Carmine King’ A must
-have for a natural garden with bright red flowers and a white heart. Simply sow directly in the bed in March, work in with the rake and then moisten with a fine spray.

• Growth height 30-40 cm
• Flowering period from June to October

Conclusion
If a bright orange-yellow carpet of flowers spreads out in sandy, dry and full sun locations, gold poppies do their decorative work here. As a permanent bloomer in summer, the yellow Californian poppy transforms meager rock gardens or fallow roof gardens into a picturesque sea of ​​flowers without the need for extensive care. The watering can is only used when it is dry in summer. Fertilizers can even be completely dispensed with in humus-rich soil. A pruning is only possible in early spring when the sleepy hat thrives in regions with mild winters.