Poppies will germinate even better if you sow them in fall, as they like to go through the cold of winter.
There are exceptions to everything, of course, and in this case some medicinal herbs are fairly easy to start from seed, including calendula, holy basil ( Ocimum sanctum), fennel, California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica), and borage* ( Borago officinalis). Once you have a garden bed or container prepped, direct sow the seeds after the last frost date. Poppies will germinate even better if you sow them in fall, as they like to go through the cold of winter.