My nephew told me earnestly this past weekend, "You can't pick the orange ones. It's against the law." I remember as a child believing this rule about the state flower and feeling like I was imparting Important Information to adults when announcing it as fact. I think this childhood rumor is a rite of passage for California kids, but thanks to Wikipedia I am assured "A common misconception associated with the plant, because of its status as a state flower, is that the cutting or damaging of the California poppy is illegal. There is no such law..." I don't think I'll let my nephew in on this; that would be on par with messing with the tooth fairy. The flowers are pretty enough staying put in the ground anyway.
Very pretty! We were also told never to pick the state flower, the bluebonnet!
ReplyDeleteOh you know, I didn't know until very recently that it wasn't true! How gullible am I as a CA native?
ReplyDeleteI so want to plant a ton of these in our garden. Maybe next year -man they ar gorgeous!