Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Tatyana Searcy
Remember when we enjoyed seeing Tatyana’s beautiful gazebo in her garden on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington in January? (Refresh your memory HERE.)
Today Tatyana’s back with another great element of her garden–her blue poppies. She says, “I’d like to show you several pictures of my blue poppy (Meconopsis sheldonii) blooming in May. I didn’t grow these plants from seed. Nevertheless, seeing them in bloom makes me happy.”
That is one gorgeous plant, Tatyana. I don’t think we can grow meconopsis very well here in the Northeast. Does anyone have any experience with the here or in other parts of the country? **Tatyana posted about Blue Poppy in her garden blog, MySecretGarden, HERE.**
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Comments
beautiful clear blue. this is another plant i have killed more than a few times. they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. that pretty much hits the nail on the head with me and a number of plants. congratulations on your poppy success
WOW!! A first for me to see a BLUE poppy! Beautiful!!
Also read about it in your blog. According to the growing
zones, looks like I could try growing one, myself.
Thank you for sharing Tatyana! :)
good luck, bee1nine, mine always seem to germinate for Easter and die for Memorial Day. heat and blue poppies don't seem to mix
Tatyana, that really is an amazing color of blue. On your blog, you shared that you planted them last year...were they already in bloom then? Were you hoping for some natural reseeding to get a colony going? Hmm, that would be quite a visual treat to see an undulating swath of that unique color!
Your photos from your trip to England are wonderful. How did the metal gazebo there compare in size to the one you have in your own garden? That roasted bunny on a plate was quite a sight..a reality check on authentic eating from an earlier time!
this is the holy grail of flowers to me. too hot in ohio. i've tried hoping for some mutation to appear, but no go! beautiful.
I've had very good results growing the "ordinary" red/orange poppies but I wasn't even aware there are blue ones, and a spectacular regal blue I may add.... they remind me of teh blue Popsicles of my youth. I'd have to check but somehow I remember poppies having a couple of more petals than are depicted in those blue ones. I also like the purple flowered plant alongside, looks to be Lupine. I grow Lupine here because of their deer resistance, but none of mine have separate flowers, all have the habit of flowering only in a compact spike. I'm going to have to see about trying blue poppies here. Thank you,Tatyana.
Did some research... may not be a poppy at all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconopsis
I think I was correct, the true oriental poppy has a very different flower with more petals:
http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/poppies-poppy-plants.html#
I saw these in the east - in a very special place. Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd opened their fabulous garden in Vermont to the public a few years back as a benefit for the Southern VT Aids foundation and I was lucky enough to be there when these beauties were in bloom. What amazed me, seeing them in person, was their size, floating up around my knee.
Reford Gardens. ( http://www.refordgardens.com) has a blue poppy glade and lots of info on blue poppies.
The forget-me-nots blue with the poppys is outstanding.
Your blue poppies are drop-dead- gorgeous,Tatyana! Especially lovely with the blue lupine. I had a blue poppy in S. Me. that bloomed for several years. I took many pics. of it -in every stage it was beautiful.That unforgettable plant stopped blooming then died. My new one is alive but no blooms this year...or last...or the one before! They are tricky, but hope springs eternal ...esp. for gardeners! My friend's blue poppy IS blooming in Me. now. Took her several tries but well worth it.Maybe we should all move to England-where they seem to bloom naturally-with foxgloves.
Beautiful! I first saw them at the Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland----what are those? I need to get some! You know how it goes. I remember reading somewhere that when growing them you should not let them bloom during the first year but let the growth go into the root system. Hard to sacrifice those blooms with such a gorgeous specimen and one with such a short life span as well.
I'm in Victoria, not far from Washington. I bought a blue poppy last year and couldn't decide where to plant it, so kept it in a pot. This year it has doubled in size so I don't dare plant it in the ground, I'll loose it for sure. Tatyana, your photos are stunning, thanks for sharing.
Congratulations Tatyana! Like many others, I tried to propagate these beautiful poppies from seed. Just when I thought I had succeeded, we had an unusually hot sunny spring day, and that was the end of them. I haven't tried again. I was reluctant to buy the plant because of the expense.
There is an excellent British website that would be very helpful if you are planning on trying these poppies.
http://www.meconopsis.org/pages/firsttime.html
i do not think one can compare cultivation of Papaver orientale with Meconopsis sheldonii (both of which are poppies). Meconopsis is almost mythlike or a fabled plant in most of this continent as to it's difficulty to cultivate. for me, doesn't matter if you grew from seed or bought plants it's an accomplishment to have them flower in your garden. you achieved the gold cup in having that happen.
I had one bloom two years in a row in southern ME, neighboring town to JaneEliz. Nothing last year tho. Foliage looks good now. I'm sure it would help if it got a little water mid-summer. Maybe I'll remember to do that this year. Even the years it bloomed it was beaten down by aphids by late summer.
Thank you everyone! I appreciate your kind words and tips! Answering the question - yes, I bought the plants, pretty big size, when they were in bloom, a year ago. I got a tip on my blog about growing them. Specifically, about soil type. I did notice a difference between my plants growing in different locations. Those in lighter soil look bigger, had larger flowers which lasted much longer. I bought two M.betonicifolia, pretty small, three years ago. They've never bloomed for me. I moved them to a spot with more sun and lighter soil. They look much better now, and I hope, they'll bloom next year. Thank you again!
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