Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh poppy) seems to thrive in shady areas, so that would be very suitable for my shady garden. I once had it, but the very bright yellow was somehow disturbing and I found it to difficult to combine with other colours.
Maybe someone knows if it exist in more subtle colours and where I can purchase it ?
Meconopsis cambrica; does it exist in more subtle colours ?
Hi bonitin,
Check out www.thompson-morgan.com They have double flowered Welsh Poppies in their new catalogue, in red, yellow and orange. Pastel shades are, I'm afraid, not an option!
Thank you Prophetfive for your response and the link, but in general I'm not so found of double flowers and as you mentioned yourself these don't have these subtle colours neither.
I came upon the idea of the existing of a more subtle variety of the Welsh Poppy after buying a British magazine called 'Gardeners World' which is available here in some Belgian newspaper shops. In it was a catalogue of JParkers, in which I found a photo of a Welsh Poppy which was described having the colour of the flower as cream-yellow. The picture that came with it really shows a beautiful cream-yellow flower. Unfortunately they don't ship outside the UK. The name under which it was offered for sale simply said: Meconopsis cambrica without a cultivar specification.
This message was edited Sep 28, 2006 9:54 PM
Hi bonitin,
I haven't come across that particular colour of Poppy, but, I'll do some checking for you. Bear in mind also, that catalogue pictures are quite often 'doctored' to make the product more appealing to buy.
Thank you so much Prophetfive!
I realise that pictures in catalogues can be modified to look more attractive, but in this case they really described the colour of the flower as being cream-yellow, which cannot be said of the original specie
I have had the lovely lemon yellow Welsh poppies in my garden for years and they go very well with the blues and whites of lots of things that are in flower at the same time.
From a neighbouring garden appeared a double apricot coloured version a couple of years ago and while it is very pretty in its own right, it hybridises with my pure yellow ones and they end up with either orange edged petals or an apricot wash which I find horrible. You can't beat the pure clear yellow of the original.
Patbarr,
I agree with you that the original bright yellow Welsh poppy is a beauty in itself, in general I prefer the original specie to the cultivars but
I must confess that I always have been very reluctant in using bright yellow-coloured flowers in my garden . I love them in vast wild fields , but in tiny gardens (like mine is) they shout down all the other more subtle treasures.
As I really love the beautiful foliage of the Welsh poppy, specially early in spring, I thought it would be a perfect match for my spring flowers if it existed in a more subtle yellow. I am curious about your lemon-yellow variety, did it emerge by itself ?
Hi bonitin,
Yes I took seeds from some I saw growing as I liked the colour. I don't know whether any are flowering at the moment, they sometimes have another flush before winter. If one of the good coloured ones is in flower I will collect some seed for you. The only trouble is that since the orange one turned up in the garden not all the seed comes true, but you can throw the orange tinted ones out and select the pure yellow.
I like them among lots of greenery, ferns etc as they brighten up dark corners.
Patbarr,
Thank you so much for your offer of sending me some seeds of your Welsh poppy's, whenever you can collect some.
I wish I could give you something in return for them and I looked through the seeds I have collected myself and some I bought this year.
If you are interested I have:
- echium russicum
- arum italicum 'marmoratum'
- digitalis purpurea 'Apricot
- ceratotheca triloba
- cheiranthus 'aurora'
- daucus carota 'dara'
Here is a photo of the Welsh poppy: I could only find one flowering by the gate and it isn't a very good photo.
If that is a bit bright here is a photo of the apricot one. It isn't quite as dark as the photo.
