Plant several poppies as your tall center flowers, then add colorful snapdragons or blue salvia, candytuft, pansies, and sweet alyssum or Dusty Miller to fill out your container. These are sure to provide you with a summer bouquet until late fall. Most poppies are very easy to grow, especially annuals such as the California or the Shirley. Soil preparation is minimal, and usually requires just a bit of raking of your seed bed. Keep your soil moist after planting and the seeds will germinate readily in about a week.
Poppies demand good drainage for proper growth.
Since almost all poppies are self-sowing if allowed to go to seed, you could be lucky enough to only have to plant them once. It is possible to transplant any small volunteers by digging them up when they're quite small. Care should be taken to not injure their roots when moving them, and they should be spaced at least 12 inches apart when transplanting. Many states in America have had songs written about them, and California is no exception. In thy yellow cup Sunbeams bright, lend their light, Honey bees doth sup.