California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

Here's another wildflower one can't help but like although it apparently is an invasive species from our neighbors to the south. This is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). It seems to have settled very comfortably into our environment and its brilliant orange flowers brighten waste areas where more demanding flowers will not grow. They are one of the first to bloom in the spring and continue all through summer to well into the autumn.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)

In late spring and early summer roadsides and waste areas near the shorelines are decorated with the brilliant orange of California Poppies. And even when summer's drought has turned the grasses golden these hardy little flowers continue to bloom. They're one of my favorites.