Stylophorum diphyllum: Wood Poppy...ambitious self-seeder colonizes Fern Valley

Wood Poppies are cheerful and deer-resistant, two good qualities. Members of the Papaveraceae, the Poppy Family, they contain some interesting and potent chemicals that color their sap yellow, and which deer don't enjoy consuming. Easily grown, the seeds from one plant often produce enough offspring to eventually naturalize throughout an entire garden...in a good way. They like semi-shady areas with good soil and adequate moisture, but will adapt to less favorable situations, peforming at a slightly less spectacular level. During the summer they normally cease flowering, but extended rainy periods can induce a new period of bloom.