Poppy seeds need to freeze to germinate. Stick them in the freezer for 2 weeks and then toss them out.

My annual poppies have never frozen as we just do not get a freeze most years, but I still get spring blooms.

Ditto. My poppies reseed and we hardly ever get more than a light freeze.

Alameda, I think you could go ahead and plant them outside now. They don't transplant very easily. You could broadcast the seed on the ground, and maybe give them a light dusting of soil for cover.

Everyone is happily chipping in about their poppies but we still don't know what plants these 'poppies' are. Some e.g. California 'poppies' (Eschscholzia) come from warm climates and are unlikely to need a cold period. Annual poppies based on various Papaver species may or may not need a cold patch. Papaver somniferum certainly doesn't. Perennial poppies based on P orientale seem to need a cold period. There's one way to find out if it's too late. You have nothing to lose.

These are p. somniferum. So...these dont need a cold period - just plant and sprinkle soil over them? I have lots of babies just now starting to germinate - and I never try to transplant - they wither and either die or have very poor blooms. I just weed around the poppy plant. Got them from a nice lady years and years ago - we saw them while driving down the road and I recognized them as "that poppy" I had been wanting after seeing photos in a gardening magazine. Didnt know what they were. She invited us to come back and get seeds later, which we did. I had them for years at another home, and have now been using ancestors of those original seeds for coming on 19 years at my prescent home. Here is a photo of some of the red ones taken last spring.
{{gwi:729}}

What a nice story and what nice memories a plant can bring!

Snap! They can clearly thrive in a wide range of climates.

Mine are somniferums, too. I never plant them, they volunteer each year. We've had 3 or maybe 4 nights that have been around freezing or a little below, and some chilly weather, and I have about a dozen volunteers up now. They're a lavender color, singles.