I grow a few in Petaluma which is zone 9 but quite a bit cooler in the summer than Sacramento. I planted them from seed last year in the spring and they all bloomed this year. They fade back in the summer but perk up in the fall. In fact one of them has decided to bloom again. Here's a picture I snapped today.

Thank you all for your kind responses, and for your offer of a cutting or plant, that was so nice. Chatham, is that by Albany? I'm in Orange County,not far from Stewart Airport. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I will try again. Speaking to my neighbor, she has the same problem, although she planted hers in moist shade.... I tried full sun, ordinary soil. I am sure once I get them to take, they will be fine. The only one that ever came back was one I planted in the fall that came from White Flower Farm, but it sent up foiliage no flowers the first season...and that was the last I saw of it.. Oldroser, would you suggest the potted types, like they sell at the nurseries in the quart size, at this time of year? I just don't know what I am doing wrong. Even when I buy them in the pot in bud, the stem shrivels and then the plant starts to yellow and go dormant ( or die ). I figured it lost it's bud to not liking to be transplanted. I was hopefull last year. I am not giving up just yet.

blue, IME by the time the foliage looks ratty enough to remove, the seedheads have ripened. But if not fully dried/ripe, they do not need the foliage to do so - only time - so OK to still remove the leaves :-) Like many papaver species, oriental poppies are native to lean soils, often those that are sandy, rocky and rather infertile -- flopping is characteristic of the pretty fertile soil conditions most of us have in our gardens. Try using a peony grow-thru ring next spring when the poppies start to leaf out and grow in earnest. Class C noxious weeds are left to the individual county as to control measures. To my knowledge, they are not prohibited from sale in the Puget Sound area but many nursery owners and buyers are very responsible and proactive when it comes to potentially invasive plants and choose not to offer them for sale. In 2004, a task force was established by the Washington Invasive Species Coalition, members of the WNSLA and other agencies to voluntarily halt the sales of noxious weeds and potentially invasive species and offer alternate planting suggestions. A good many local area nurseries are participants. When buying for a previous nursery employer, we elected NOT to sell baby's breath, donkeytail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites), any English ivy (except as houseplants), Phalaris/gardener's garters, Mexican hairgrass, lamiastrum, English holly and butterfly bush. I lobbied hard to discontinue the sale of English laurel but didn't win that war :-)

I grew clary sage from seed... after the last frost. I don't have frost, but after the last frost is good. I'd buy a young plant in the spring if I were you, unless your main goal is to get the flowers, then you could purchase one now and over winter it. It's pretty easy to grow from seed, just press the seed into the soil, keep moist and 1 to 2 weeks later you will have a baby! hope that answers your questions.