The poppies, Escholzia californica var californica, are beautiful when they bloom but they turn into long ropes with brittle seed pods at the ends. This year I am experimenting with cutting them to the ground and chopping the cut plants, turning them into a mulch that will build the soil for a later crop of poppies. I can count on more poppies as they reseed prolifically. I am doing this in stages as the poppies at one end of their bed bloom first and their seed pods appear first as well. I am chopping them as my time permits and when the pods get to just the right degree of brittleness.