They'll bloom a bit the second years. Third year is when they really start getting going. They are easy from seed. They even transplant easily when small.

Thanks, mad_gallica. I'd like to try some, and other perennials. I don't want to have to plant all annuals any more................too many bones creak when I get down to dig these days! With the right choices of perennials there can be blooms all season.

The tricky part about Oriental poppies is that they go dormant after they bloom. So you have to think about what is going to be in that hole from July to September.

Mad, I had them years ago, and here they start to look really ratty by mid-June or so, but I had them planted near daylilies and that worked OK. Then by September or so, the new leaves appeared and sat there all winter, small but green, and come the following spring they shot up.