In Central Otago, New Zealand, Californian poppies are a wonderful sight at present, growing wild on dry gravelly sites. I live very near the 45th parallel, where our annual rainfall can be as low as 280mm. We haven't had rain for a month and the poppies are glorious.There is the odd creamy white flowered plant, plus the typical deep orange and a yellow/orange mix.Tourists frequently stop to take photographs of the brilliant colours. Sedum acre flowers next and the hills will turn yellow. I have a seed collecting friend who harvests and threshes many kilograms of stonecrop seed for export the Germany each summer.