This flower has 4 petals, delicate leaves, closes up in the evening. Western Pa. Can someone please tell me what they are? Thank you.

I'm just guessing, but the foliage and unopened bloom look like a yellow California Poppy I had once.

California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

I agree with California Poppy.

Sorry, looking for a better photo and this one uploaded. The seed pods are long, you can see one in the lower left in the first photo. California Poppy, that's cool, thank you!

California Poppies are great, but beware! They do seed themselves generously, and also far and wide. The pods split open and spray the seeds when they're ripe. So best to keep an eye on those seed pods and when they're getting brown you can collect them so that you can put the seeds where you want then, like not in your lawn.

In the cool, coastal Pacific NorthWet, or at least in the one bed I tried them in, they fade away completely after just 2 years.

And yet I see them by some roadsides, year after year.

For once, maybe I can say that the soil and moisture in that one bed are TOO INVITING to favor poppies!

Throw some seeds at a spot that gets no water and blazing sun (a relative term up there, I know ). They love it warm and dry, and lean soil.

I planted 3 different colors when we lived in Utah. After 2 years, I had all one color (the golden orange) and a full bed of them where nothing else could elbow its way in. Lovely, but truly invasive there.

It was also kind of fun to touch the tip of the pods and watch them POP! Try it!

dyzzypyxxy said:Throw some seeds at a spot that gets no water and blazing sun (a relative term up there, I know ). They love it warm and dry, and lean soil.

When you say "Sun", do you mean that bright yellow, round thing that one rarely sees through the clouds?

I've READ about that Sun!

And yes, for once my soil was TOO fertile, well-drained and watered!
First time ever!
Thanks!

Hey, I have family up there and they've been telling me there's actually been some summer weather this year? Not to mention last year, which was hot??

I was supposed to be in Vancouver BC for a family wedding last weekend, sadly my feet have been too sore to travel, but the pictures do indeed show the shining yellow thing in the blue sky.

Btw, those Cal Poppies also grew great in the clay soil I had in Salt Lake. I heard you had some clay in your garden too, Rick??

In California, I planted poppies about halfway down my 1.5 acre yard. They kept traveling down hill for years. The last year I lived there, the poppies had invaded the oat hay field behind me in a great big crescent around my back property line (no fence). I kept hoping that farmer wouldn't come out and see what I had done to his crop. But the baler he hired just baled the field, poppies and all.

In Reno, my neighbor planted one she got from Home Depot. You can't transplant a CA poppy so it immediately died but not before shooting seeds everywhere. Last year a couple came up in my front yard and I left them. This summer, my yard was a blaze of orange. All my neighbors loved it - they thought I had done it on purpose.

If that's what they like, I have just the spot... not really a garden spot, but it would be if California poppies were growing there; I think I'll kind of scratch it up this fall and throw some seeds on it in the spring and see what happens!!

dyzzypyxxy said: ... Btw, those Cal Poppies also grew great in the clay soil I had in Salt Lake. I heard you had some clay in your garden too, Rick??

I just have to sow poppy seeds where the weeds and rocks are now! I made the mistake of preparing a rich, moist bed for them.

here's the CA poppy that I especially want to thrive and produce lots of seeds:

California Poppy Red (Eschscholzia californica 'Mikado')

Although considered annuals, California Poppies are actually perennial. When they start looking ragged and crispy and the seeds have sprung, cut them back to a couple inches above the ground instead of pulling them up. They will re-grow for a fall show as the weather starts to cool.

It has been my experience that the hybrid CA poppies either don't reseed or revert in a couple years. Whatever it is, they slowly disappear and you are left with orange. My personal CA poppy fave is 'Mission Bells.'

I had the same thing, Daisy. I bought red, white and yellow originally, and ended up with all orange as they reverted. Occasionally I'd get a sport of the other colors, but not often.

You can always keep buying a new packet of seeds every year or two, and re-seed with the colors you like.

DaisyI said:Although considered annuals, California Poppies are actually perennial. When they start looking ragged and crispy and the seeds have sprung, cut them back to a couple inches above the ground instead of pulling them up. They will re-grow for a fall show as the weather starts to cool.

According to most sites, including the Flora of North America, they can be perennial or annual. Of course, the fact that one can get them to rebloom in the same season is evidence for neither.

DaisyI said: ... It has been my experience that the hybrid CA poppies either don't reseed or revert in a couple years. Whatever it is, they slowly disappear and you are left with orange. My personal CA poppy fave is 'Mission Bells.'

You're probably right. I thought that Eschscholzia californica 'Mikado' was an OP variety and should mostly come true, but one vendor admits this:
"When saving poppy seeds, keep in mind that the resulting flowers sometimes revert to the dominant orange or red blossoms."

I haven't found any source yet that will say either "OP" or "F1".

Another vendor says: "Perennial in USDA zone 7 or warmer"

The roots get huge. I have never mangaged to keep them for more than a year or so as my daughters are natural dyers. Apparently poppy roots make a great orange dye - the older the root, the better the dye.

This year, they convinced me to grow Indigo. I managed to germinate the seeds but the plants are small and pathetic out there in my garden. Its too hot and too dry in Reno for Indigo. Next year, I think we will have to try a summer time 'cold frame' in the shade to hold in the humidity.