THE BLUE POPPIES

Evening Star, Issue 21216, 24 September 1932, Page 20

THE BLUE POPPIES

These Meconopsis (blue poppies from Tibet) seem to be still growing in popularity, and in many smaller gardens one now sees Meconopsis Baileyi (or M. botonicifolia, to give it its proper name), says a contributor to ‘ Popular Gardening,’ London. This is supposed to be a perennial, but in many gardens it seems to be monocarpic—that is, it dies after flowering, although if the seed pods are cut off before they ripen there will be a better chance of the plant surviving, and if it does not live it will throw up more shoots and become a good bushy plant. One of my plants has survived its third winter and thrown out a second flowering shoot. To be sure, however, of a good supply of plants of this variety sufficient seeds should be saved every year for one’s needs.

Of the less well-known kinds Meconopsis graodis is a magnificent plant and is a true perennial. Mr Harrow tells us that in Edinburgh there are specimens over twenty years old. Meconopsis grandis bloomed with me about the end of May. It was a glorious electric blue, and made a striking contrast to Meconopsis Baileyi. It is not easy to obtain the seeds of this, but 1 find it is best propagated by offshoots removed early in autumn and potted up and kept in a frame during winter. Meconopsis quintuplinervia (Farcer’s harebell poppy) is becoming more plentiful and can be increased in the same way. It has a gentle grace of its own, although is certainly not so striking as some of the other kinds. I find it very effective in the right place in the rock garden. Less grown is the Kashmir poppy Meconopsis latifolia, which likes a drier place than the foregoing, but if a good form is acquired the flowers are a pretty shade of Cambridge blue and the plants grow about 2ft high, blooming from the end of June to August (December to February). Meconopsis discigera has not bloomed with me yet. The flowers are, I believe, yellow, and seedlings have to be raised annually. . The giant of the race is Meconopsis Wallichii, which is easily grown if protected from the damp in winter, and blooms about the beginning of August. The plants vary a good deal in colour from a dull purple to an attractive pale blue. Most Meconopsis are best grown in partial shade; if planted in full sun the flowers are apt to fade to a purplish blue instead of the lovely azure blue that Meconopsis Baileyi is at its best; All these poppies seem to like plenty of atones at their roots, and with me thrive best in almost pure leaf mould.