Poppy Californian Golden West

Silky cups of golden-yellow with a deep orange heart, sitting on mounds of finely cut silver-blue foliage at 25 to 30cm. The foliage alone is worth the space before a flower opens.

It is the plant for the patch of dry poor ground where nothing settles. The poorer the soil the better it flowers; manure or feed it and you get lush leaves and almost nothing else. Full sun is not negotiable either, because the flowers stay shut in shade. They also close in the evening and on dull days, twisting into neat spirals, which is a protection mechanism and does mean a grey week gives you very little. On a bright morning it is a pool of light.

It self-seeds prolifically. The long pods split in late summer and scatter, so once you have it in a gravel path or on a dry bank it tends to stay for good. And it cannot be moved: the roots are deep and sensitive and a transplanted plant almost always dies, so sow it exactly where you want it.