The Things You Learn: Edition California State Flower (1st runner Up)

Well we all know the California State Flower.  If you don't then you are a new comer to the blog because I love to see the desert in bloom with California poppies - and have shown them on the site about a gajillion times.  So here is a reminder of the gorgeous California Poppy.

Now here is the thing.  Today there was a story about the poppy runner up when California voted for a state flower.  It is the Malitja Poppy.  The thing about poppies is that you can't really cultivate them (I have no idea how heroin poppies are grown, but California Poppies are wildflowers that seem to sprout after a exceptionally wet winter).  So here is the Malitja Poppy - and a cool description of growing them.
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The Malitja: Optimally Viewed

.In a strategy that has been called both finicky and aggressive (Bornstein, Fros, O'Brien, "California Native Plants for the Garden," Cachuma Press, 2005), the discriminating plant will demur if the venue is not optimal, but can also dominate a landscape. It likes full sun and survives on scant rainfall, and once established, is difficult to discourage.
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Kind of perfect description for us Angelinos.  "..demur if the venue is not optimal, but can also dominate a landscape.  It likes full sun and survives on scant rainfall, and once established, is difficult to discourage."  Anyway who has tried to shut me up when I am on a roll  would instantly understand that comment.
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A more common view of the flower as seen in Chapperal