I'm in Raleigh NC and the only way I can grow poppies is to sow them around Thanksgiving and hope and pray they make it through the winter. Most types struggle with high heat and humidity so summer is the bigger enemy. But I usually see a few flowers before it gets too hot for them. I sow them on gravel-y dry soil (no clay) on a slope and keep all the mulch and fallen leaves off of them - they need the winter sun to germinate.

I do have one perennial poppy - Moroccan Poppy - only comes in orange, struggles some years but always shows up somewhere in the garden.

Thanks John for the input. I'm going to give it a shot. I'm told this Izmir afghan poppy flowers in 55 days!? Hoping the California's do well too, great color!

I bought what I thought were corn poppy seeds this spring and sprinkled them out there. They grew and bloomed in a matter of weeks but looked more like Shirley Poppies. They didn't last long due to heat but I was excited to see them for awhile. Would like to try some Lauren's Grape this fall but think they are papaver somniferum, opium poppies, and I think it is illegal to even grow them in NC. Any info on that?

I'm willing to lean on the side that it is illegal in NC. I'm in SC and you can have the seeds (for sale in most grocery stores for food purposes) but pretty sure the actual plants/pods are illegal, yet the local garden club grows them in a small quantity for show. As long as you're not growing acres with intent to distribute, you should be ok. Illegal or not, those flowers are a work of art. Just blows my mind on the patterns and colors they produce. Good luck with the grow

I’m no expert, but it seems to me that poppies being grown by private citizens would be pretty low on the list of things law enforcement would be concerned with. As long as you don’t have a commercial operation, I think you’re probably safe to grow a few poppies. Just my two cents.