Orange King California Poppy

Eschscholzia californica 'Orange King' (Eschscholzia californica 'Orange King') is a gloriously vivid selection of California's beloved state flower, producing large, silky, bowl-shaped blooms in a rich, deeply saturated orange of exceptional intensity — a warm, sun-drenched hue that captures the quintessential spirit of California's wildflower-carpeted hillsides at their most spectacular and joyful peak. The luminous, tissue-thin petals catch and transmit sunlight with an almost transparent translucence, glowing brilliantly across the garden and creating a vivid, naturalistic color display that feels simultaneously wildly free and perfectly beautiful. The finely dissected, soft blue-green ferny foliage provides delicate textural contrast throughout the season, remaining ornamentally attractive even between bloom flushes and contributing the airy, authentic wildflower quality that makes this species so universally and enduringly beloved.

This professional-grade 4" plant arrives with a well-established root system cultivated through professional horticultural practices — ready to settle in and bloom with the generous abundance this species is famous for. 'Orange King' thrives in full sun with lean, well-drained soil and minimal supplemental water — performing at its brilliant best in the dry, warm conditions of California gardens, Mediterranean-style borders, wildflower meadow plantings, rock gardens, and naturalistic slope designs. It self-seeds freely in suitable conditions to return year after year with increasing abundance, naturalizing into a self-sustaining wildflower colony that asks virtually nothing of the gardener in return for its annual display of luminous orange color.

• Luminous, Deeply Saturated Orange Blooms: Large, silky, bowl-shaped flowers in a vivid, deeply saturated warm orange glow with translucent brilliance in full sunlight — delivering the quintessential California wildflower color experience in garden beds, borders, and naturalistic plantings with a luminous intensity that is simply impossible to replicate with any other flower.
• California State Flower — Native Ecological Value: As California's iconic state flower, Eschscholzia californica is a critical native pollen source for native bees including specialist mining bee species — providing irreplaceable ecological value in habitat gardens, restoration plantings, and wildlife-friendly landscape designs throughout the state.
• Self-Seeding Wildflower Naturalization: Seeds drop freely and germinate readily in lean, well-drained conditions, naturalizing to create an ever-expanding, self-sustaining wildflower colony that returns each year with increasing abundance and spreading orange beauty requiring virtually no gardener effort to perpetuate.
• Drought Tolerant & Xeriscape Ready: Thrives in lean, dry, sharply drained soil with minimal supplemental irrigation — a supremely adapted California native that performs at its most prolific and beautiful in precisely the low-water, lean-soil conditions where it evolved and genuinely belongs.
• Delicate Ferny Blue-Green Foliage: Finely dissected, soft blue-green foliage provides airy, delicate textural contrast and a graceful, authentic wildflower character in mixed plantings — ornamentally attractive throughout the season even between the generous flushes of luminous orange bloom.

These 4" healthy live plants thrive in full sun (6+ hours daily) with well-drained, lean to average soil; avoid rich soil, heavy clay, and overwatering — lean conditions produce the most prolific and long-lasting displays. Water sparingly once established. Grow as a cool-season to warm-season annual or short-lived perennial; tolerates light frost and performs best in mild to warm temperatures. In California gardens, blooms peak in spring and early summer, may slow in extreme inland heat, and rebound in fall in mild coastal climates. Self-seeds freely where conditions suit. Mature height: 12–18 inches; spread: 8–12 inches. Bloom time: spring through early summer, with rebloom in fall in mild climates.