Daffodils should do well for you. We are just 1/2 zone away from you and they do fine here. I never saw a poppy or a tulip in the ground here.

Hi Zackey,

Thank you. I take it you are in similar conditions to inland Jacksonville area?

Just wondering how they will handle the earlier than normal heat and humidity and also later on in the season.

check out the "Things you can't grow here" post (soon to be in our FAQ)

I had to laugh when I saw peony roots for sale in our Walmart in North Port. It's a wonderful, long lived perennial in the north but not for southwest Florida!
Marcia

Tulips - I've never seen them successfully grown here, either. My mom has been given potted (forced) tulips several times. They all promptly died - and I do mean died, not just dormant - as soon as it got hot. It didn't matter whether they were in-ground or in the pot...dead either way.

Daffodils depend on the variety. Quite a few will do fine in zone 8, but not as many will do well in zone 9 (not enough chill). Brent & Becky's Bulbs has zones listed for specific varieties, if you know what variety Walmart was selling. (There are probably some better resources for looking that up, I just remembered drooling over their catalog a few years back. :-) )

No idea about poppies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Brent & Becky's Bulbs