Himalayan Blue Poppies
Meconopsis betonicifolia, grandis, Hybrids, and Related Species
Many people have heard of blue poppies, a few will have seen them, even fewer will have grown them.
The genus Meconopsis includes the elusive Himalayan Blue Poppies, but also other plants with flowers in every colour of the rainbow. One thing they have in common is a preference for cool moist shady places. The flowers are like the more common Papaver poppies, with large delicate petals held in a cup shape, although fully double forms are found in one species.
All Meconopsis species except one are native to the Himalayan region of Asia. They were first described by western plant hunters around 150 years ago but did not become common in cultivation until the 20th century. Meconopsis betonicifolia, or its hybrids, is the blue poppy that you will find for sale, but M. grandis was the first one to be brought back from the Himalayas. The two plants have become hopelessly hybridised in cultivation and almost every plant sold as M. grandis, for example, is a hybrid. Plants sold as M. betonicifolia are more likely to be the true species. The Meconopsis Study Group have worked to classify the various plants in cultivation and several cultivars have been named from the blue poppy hybrids. Some of these hybrids are sterile, obviously requiring care and some skill to keep them propagated by division.
Growing the blue poppies
All the blue poppies, hybrids or not, grow in more or less the same way. They produce a rosette of bristly leaves which shed water better than a duck's back, then in late spring they send up a flower shoot several feet tall which produces one or more terminal flowers usually followed by further flowers lower down the stalk. The flowers tend to nod but some will face straight out sideways. The blue colour ranges from a clear pale sky blue though intense pure blue to violet shades. Alkaline soils produce more violet shades even in cultivars which would otherwise be a pale blue. The rosette of foliage will remain over the summer in cool damp climates, but even in England it will become very battered and may even disappear for a while like an Oriental poppy. In warmer or drier climates, the plant may die during the summer never to return. The flowering rosettes die as winter arrives, but strong plants will have produced offset rosettes and so will spread into a clump over the years. Weaker plants which have not produced offsets will die completely. All the blue poppy variations are herbaceous and very cold hardy, although they may rot in wet soil.
The plants are self-fertile, although they will readily cross with nearby plants, and the seed pods mature in mid to late summer, each producing thousands of seeds. The seed will germinate immediately if conditions are cool and moist, but stored seed becomes difficult and slow to germinate. One of the most frustrating aspects of growing these plants from seed is the tendency to damp off at the first true leaf stage. The only way to avoid this seems to be to keep the seedlings cool, all the usually chemicals, fans, sterilisation, etc. will not help. The seedlings will grow happily with nights down to freezing or slightly below and are very sensitive to strong sun or hot dry conditions.
If you live in Alaska or Scotland you can probably grow any blue poppy like a weed but it is a challenge in warmer spots. Try deep moist organic soil, deep shade, and a sprinkler on hot days. The flowers are worth it even if you can only keep them alive for a single season. Those blue flowers are always a head-turner, completely unlike anything else.
It is worth mentioning one more blue poppy species, M. simplicifolia, quite similar to the others and probably a parent of some of the cultivars, but rare in cultivation.
A Meconopsis for beginners
Meconopsis cambrica, the Welsh Poppy, is the one species native to Europe. It has small orange or yellow flowers and a strong taproot. It is perennial but short-lived, cold hardy, quite smalle, and seeds itself prolifically. It is rather different to all other Meconopsis, but DNA studies show it to be closely related to them. This species has been bred to produce an array of flower forms and colours, including doubles, reds, and two tone flowers. This is also the easiest species by far, in warm dry summers it will simply die back to the ground and resprout from the taproot when conditions are suitable. In cool summers or with plenty of water, it will continue to produce flowers right through to the first frosts. Seed is produced copiously but it has multiple dormancies and will not germinate until at least one winter has passed.
A Meconopsis by any other name
One species that is still found under the Meconopsis name has actually been booted out into its own genus. Cathcartia villosa is certainly similar to a Meconopsis with soft hairy leaves shaped like an English Oak, a stalk of yellow cup-shaped flowers, and a need for cool moist conditions. It is well worth trying for the clear yellow nodding flowers, although it can be temperamental to get started.
The other Meconopsis
Although they tend to be ignored in comparison to the blue poppies, there are a number of other Meconopsis species worth growing. Most are strictly monocarpic, they will flower once and then die, so you'll have to keep raising new ones from the seed which they all produce generously.
M. napaulensis is often seen at nurseries and is available with white, red, or yellow flowers, possibly these are hybrids. It produces an evergreen rosette and eventually a tall flower stalk with a spray of large poppy flowers, then it dies.
Meconopsis horridula is another species that is fairly easy to find, this one dies back each winter and is also monocarpic. It produces blue flowers similar to the perennial blue poppies but will then die.
A small rare species that produces beautiful drooping scarlet flowers is M. punicea, considered very difficult to grow. M. integrifolia has delicate pale yellow flowers, and M. paniculata is very showy as it produces a continuous display of flowers for much longer than other species. There are many other species, but you'll have to track down the seed from specialist lists, clubs, or other growers.
