Plant in full sun to bright light shade with little irrigation required – drought tolerant once established and will naturalize when happy. Tolerant of heavy soil and root hardy to about 15° F. This is a nice cheery perennial that is somewhat similar to California poppy, which it is closely related to, that does well in the dry garden. It flowers that are good in the vase if cut before they open. Although short lived it often perpetuates itself in the garden by seeding out and these seedlings that arise in the garden will be sturdier than original plants transplanted from containers. Even though it self-sows, we have never noted it to the extent of what we consider to be weedy – seems to like to come up in cracks of pavement or between steppingstones. Cut plants back in winter to make tidier.

Hunnemannia fumariifolia comes from the highlands of Mexico from 4,900 to 6,500 feet in the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico north into southern Texas (in a remote part of Big Bend National Park) and south into central Mexico where it is found in rocky habitats and along road. This genus was once considered to monotypic genus with this species being the only species but a second species, Hunnemannia hintoniorum from central Mexico, was described in 1992. The genus was named by the British botanist Robert Sweet (1783-1835) in 1828 to honor John Hunneman(n) (1760-1839) another English botanist, plant collector and botanical bookseller in Soho, London. Sweet noted that Hunneman or Hunnemann as his name is sometimes listed, was an agent for the sale of herbarium specimens and had introduced a greater number of plants into the UK than almost any other individual. The specific epithet means the foliage is like that of one of the Old World Fumeworts in the genus Fumaria, which itself comes from the Latin word 'fumus' meaning "smoke", a name thought to derive from the color or odor of the fresh roots. The name Tulip Poppy is used as the flowers somewhat resemble tulips and it is also commonly known as the Mexican Smoke Poppy. The commonly cultivated seed strain marketed as "Sunlite" was awarded the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit in 2003. We have grown this fun plant continuously at our nursery from 1985 on and at times it has sprouted up to provide solid stands in our gardens. 

The information displayed on this page about Hunnemannia fumariifolia is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.