Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: California poppy

(+1 in a note) I got a mixture of California Poppy seeds that I planted in my raised bed garden back in 2013. One day I visited my flowers and found this stunning blossom...what a beauty! I have since gotten seeds of many other colors and hopefully I will see some of them too one day...cross your fingers! :)

Have you ever seen a California Poppy flower as it's beginning to open? It's a rare sight to catch this with just about any kind of poppy, as they open rapidly when the time is right. I managed to find this cap still in place and got some nice pictures before it fell away and the flower opened. Do you know what this bud covering is called? It occurred to me that I didn't know, so I did a search for "California Poppy anatomy" and I got my answer! "Fused together into a dunce-cap shaped structure called a calyptra , the sepals fall off as the flower opens." This is the wonderful anatomy graphic I found, and here is the illustrator's page , which links to the book if you are interested.

If you think of a California Poppy, the image of a brilliantly orange flower should pop into your head. However, did you know that they come in other colors too?! When I planted my raised bed garden a couple of years ago, I got an enormous mix of poppy seeds, which included normal California poppies and some other types as well. Only one other type appeared, but what a gorgeous plant it was!! And how perfect that the first bloom opened on the Fourth of July!! This is a White Linen California Poppy, and I'm happy to say that it came back last year, and I I'm looking forward to more lovely blossoms this year too! (By the way, if you would like to order seeds, I was very pleased by the offerings from the Vermont Wildflower Farm .)

While en route to the trail head, the caravan of cars pulled off to let all of the cars catch up. I saw these poppies and had to take a picture! So pretty! This photo was taken on July 2, 2011, while on the MeetUp hike to Lost Falls, near Ashland, Oregon

Another image from the archives, this California Poppy was one of the flowers that bloomed from some mixed wildflower seeds I planted during the summer. I put them in a metal trough planter we used one year for sunflowers, and I really didn't know if I'd get anything to grow at all because the seeds were several years old. To my delight, we were given an amazing show of so many flowers I couldn't believe my eyes! As I can, I hope to share some of the incredible beauty that grew from this thimble full of seeds! Gérard de Nerval (May 22, 1808 – January 26, 1855) was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets. Wikipedia: Gérard de Nerval

Today was another Sunday Lunch Ride with Steve and the Velo Bike Club, and we put in 30 miles by day's end! Before the ride I had a minute or two to take pictures and found a bunch of California Poppies! I got a bunch of nice images and this is the one Steve liked the best! :) Victor Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). Wikipedia: Victor Hugo Explored on Flickr on May 5, 2013. Highest position #188.

The garden I grew a couple of years ago was absolutely breathtaking in the number and variety of flowers it produced. Every morning I ventured out to see the new arrivals and sometimes I simply couldn't believe my eyes for all the blossoms everywhere! The most common flowers were two different types of poppies--corn poppies and California poppies--and I planned it that way by sprinkling hundreds upon hundreds of seeds over the whole garden before I planted any other seeds. I knew they would grow and produce flowers because they did so well in my small front garden. However, I was not prepared for the volume of flowers in so many colors...it was an incredible sight! This is one of the lovely California poppy blossoms I captured one morning after it rained the night before. I adore these flowers, and I'm delighted that they are very slowly beginning to spread by themselves outside the garden. They are very prolific all over southern Oregon, but the one time I tried to plant them in a wildflower mix around our property, not even one grew. It seems that I am finally going to get my wish of having these lovely orange beauties add sparkle to our property!