These are zingy! Even more so in real life – I couldn’t quite get the red tones when photographing them.

They’re California poppies (or Eschscholzia californica) – very easy to grow from seed and will self-seed wherever they fall. They love hot, dry places with poor soil (coastal, exposed, gravel gardens). They close their flowers at night creating a rolled lance shape and open again in the sun. Available in white, cream, yellow, orange, red and pink, they flower for ages – as one flower goes to seed, another will be freshly starting out. The seed heads are more modest than the classic poppy seed heads.

Bees, hoverflies and other pollinators are attracted to their pollen, but they don’t have any nectar.