Bush poppy is also called tree poppy. The latter is somewhat inaccurate, because the bush poppy is one of California’s smaller native flowering shrubs. It’s drought-resistant and likes full sun, but needs more care than other wild flowering shrubs. Its yellow flowers are the color of buttercups and will light up your yard, but only if it’s planted in the right type of soil. Depending on the soil, your bush poppy will need a little watering.
Bush Poppy: The Basics
The bush poppy is a slow grower compared to buck brush. Bush poppy grows about three feet a year in the right conditions. If your yard is mostly clay, bush poppy is perfect for you. If your yard is hilly, that’s another plus. You can also plant bush poppy in a sandy yard, but you’ll have to make sure that it gets just the right amount of water.
Bush poppy’s yellow flowers are over five inches in diameter and closely resemble the classic poppy. The leaves are long, slender and appear grayish-green in direct sunlight. The bush poppy blooms from late spring through mid-summer, after other shrubs like buck brush have stopped blooming. It responds especially well to pruning at the end of the year, putting out even more big yellow flowers next year.
Landscaping
The bush poppy is one of the smaller, slower-growing native shrubs, and is often used as the background to flower gardens, as an edging shrub and to bring attention to larger shrubs like scrub oak. Bush poppy and scrub oak have similar gray-green leaves and look fantastic planted together, with bush poppy’s bright yellow flowers adding visual interest. The bush poppy also looks great around your patio or outside the windows of your kitchen nook.
Bush poppy looks spectacular as part of your rock garden. It’s medium-sized when fully grown, so it won’t grow to obscure rocks and boulders. You can build a beautiful hardscape with a bush poppy as the centerpiece. Because bush poppies have root balls instead of taproots and don’t reproduce the way that scrub oaks do, it’s safe to plant bush poppies around your deck without fear of root damage from the plant in the future.
Caring for Bush Poppies
It’s common to see a single bush poppy shrub surrounded by red lava rocks. Just remember that wherever you plant the bush poppy, it must have soil that drains or the roots will develop rot and kill the plant. Bush poppies can be planted in large planters with lots of drainage holes, but don’t expect the abundant blooms you’ll get if you plant in the yard in the right kind of soil.
The bush poppy needs professional care to look its best and live as long as possible. With proper care, the bush poppy can live up to 10 years. The roots of new plants are fragile, so it’s best to let us plant your bush poppy and give you a watering schedule based on your soil and the amount of sun the plant will receive.
Things to Remember
• This plant is a medium shrub
• This plant needs a small amount of water
• They like full sun and clay soil
• Pruning in the fall makes the plant lush in the spring
Looking for the perfect plant, shrub or tree for your yard or business? Do you want to use this plant in your landscaping? Evergreen Landscaping can help to make it happen fill out our contact form or call us today at (805) 773-5395 to set up a consultation.