I took this today of my bleeding Heart and a blue poppy flower bud to the right. Thought it was rather nice. If anyone is interested, I have a couple of others that show the type I have. Lingholm and betonicifolia
Meconopsis - blue
Meconopsis lingholm - these all have large buds and should pop in the next week or so, then last at least a month or more
Meconopsis betonicifolia - I have these planted pretty much where they either get almost no direct sun, a some morning sun, and a little afternoon sun. They do well in all of those places. The 'nursery' bed is planted with Leopard's Bane, Hosta, Columbine, and Astilbe, right across from a big rhubarb bed.
Prior pictures are from 2010 (to clarify). THIS picture is the first bloom for 2011, a Lingholm in the nursery bed; not even one of the older clumps.
This shows the almost neon quality of Lingholm, with two shades of blue
This message was edited Jun 27, 2011 10:27 AM
Mstella, where are these planted? Shade? semi shade? is it a moist area? I have been wanting to grow these, yours are beautiful!!
they are in moist soil, not soggy. Look upwards to June 24 where I list what they are planted with. As to sun? A couple only get a few hours of late afternoon sun, several get early morning sun til about 10:30; the ones you see above are planted between a fence and my house, with about 10-15' between, they only get sun for maybe two or three hours in the late afternoon, so short sun, but fairly hot. but they are filtered somewhat by the solomon's seal and the leopard bane. I have never tried to plant one out in the front yard where they would get all day sun. And remember that our temps are cooler also. It may be afternoon, but it might still be 65F with a cool breeze off the inlet. I would say that probably anywhere your hosta grow, these would also.
Thank you so much!!!
Blue poppy envy here! Very nice Mstella.
Thank you.
it was raining today and I spotted this poor little blue poppy with its head turned down.
They are so beautiful. You must have the perfect climate for them. I tried wintersowing some seeds, but they didn't germinate for me.
I have tried WS seeds and at this point have one tiny little germination. I just go buy plants. And yes, it would appear that our cooler climate is good for them.
In cold zones like ours, you have to celebrate the plants that grow well for us - it makes up for the late springs and short growing seasons. Your poppies are beautiful. Do they bloom for a long time?
they do. they send up shoots that have buds almost every inch. the biggest clump I have tops out over 5' tall and blossoms a good part of the summer. Even the smaller ones go on for quite a while. I recently found a lavender one and added it, but I am afraid that they are somewhat subject to the PH and that it will become the same rather electric blue that the others are. I had seeds from a DG friend and I WS them, but no luck. They were white ones, and yellow ones. Will try again this winter.
I found an interesting bloom today. They are usually very simple and single and up pops this one.
NIce! Gotta love it when Mother nature surprises you. :)
This might help those trying to nurse new blue poppies, or any meconopsis, to health. They look really ratty, but resist pulling dead stuff. There is little root system and it is easy to simply pull up a viable baby. this one finally put out two little green shoots after several weeks looking dead
This message was edited Jul 15, 2011 8:36 PM
Refering to the last picture, the plant survived and thrived. Had to move it as it was crowding a bleeding heart. For those planting seeds, you need a lot of patience. Sometimes they can take up to 300 days to germinate. My one seed experiment I planted them in March (WS), it was well into August when it finally sent up a tiny little sprout. It was a nice 2" by the first of October and I am hoping it will survive the winter. It should be yellow.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you OBE ! LOL !
thanks Mike. Me too!
OBE??
keep us posted.
I would love to be able to grow these, but there aren't too many places in Australia where they would!
Tasmania, probably and the snow country that in between New South Wales and Victoria - where we don't always get snow. We have had a really cold winter this year even where I live on Lake Macquarie, about halfway up the coast of New South Wales. Usually warm and Humid . Why do they sell seeds in our area? It's cruel, raising hopes that are just not going to be fulfilled.
I can't grow the Flanders poppies, too humid, they just rot from the ground up. Shirley Poppies seem to be the only ones that will at least try!
I envy you all.
It is always surprising to hear about 'last winter' from down under and realize you are speaking of the past several months that have been for us summer. It would make sense that if you can't grow blue poppies, that the oriental poppies would also be a no go. Clumping type, easily rotting flowers are not favored by your climate I guess. And yes, it is frustrating to see things advertised in your area, especially noted as being perennials, that won't make it through the winter. We get a lot of that here too. I finally got smart and look at the temp ranges and if it is good to -10, it's a no go pretty much for sure, with -20 a 50/50 chance depending on how you plant and where.
The Oriental poppies would grow better inland from the coast, as the air is more dry. In the red centre it is desert, so no go there, either. Ah well, maybe one day someone will hybridise the cold with the hot and Voila! No? Thought so.
Certemwoi -- how's that for phonetic French. lol
This is the cheapest that I have seen these. Have anyone here ever bought from MZ ? http://www.mzbulb.com/dp.asp?pID=SME01
they sell for about $25 in a one gallon bucket here. Pretty outrageous. They really seem rather fadish now that I have had them for a while. They do become rather ragged after a few years.