Beautiful poppy!!!

Yes, lovely! But hardly a California poppy. An oriental poppy, perhaps?

Our California poppy is much simpler with a single petal color -- usually a bright orange but variations include near white, pale yellow and a warm red orange -- not nearly so much texture to the petals and open lacy foliage.

I think your poppy is beautiful and I'm trying to grow more traditional varieties in my garden. I've got a Shirley poppy that looks similar but has pink petals.

You can let the seed pods dry and, when they're fully dried and you can hear the seeds rattle around inside, you can sow them in your garden in the fall and hope to have a good display in subsequent years.

The wikipedia has a page with numerous pix that may be helpful. For some reason I'm not able to post the link to it. Just google "California poppy".

A very fine example of an Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientalis). I grow a few in my garden near Edinburgh (Scotland) and I have few problems. Grow them in a sheltered spot where the are protected from wind which damages the plants. After flowering, plants can be lifted and divided every 2 to 3 years. There is a wide range of named cultivars available.

Yes-an Oriental Poppy...A few of my perennials must be behind times! Mine are now getting their buds, lots of beautiful foliage though...Mine took a few years to really be nice, its also the same color as yours, Tn, pretty...I can't wait for the blooms!