The Blue Himalayan Poppy, Meconopsis baileyi, is known to be a monocarpic perennial flower in certain conditions. In other words, it behaves like an annual by setting seeds and dying. Known as a short-lived perennial, it can be difficult to grow, but it’s possible to enjoy these plants in the garden for many years.
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The Blue Himalayan poppy is a member of the papaveraceae family, but it is not a true poppy. True poppies, papavar, have a genus of over 100 species of herbacious plants which include annuals, biennials and perennials. Meconopsis, the blue poppy, has a genus of 43 perennial plants. However, they do share family characteristics, but the differences, according to The Meconopsis Group, are found in the styles, ovaries and stigmas of the open flowers.
The Himalayan blue poppy seed is difficult to germinate and has a tendency to damping-off. It can be grown from seed, however, but there may be a lot of trial and error and in the end, the gardener may wish she simply bought the plants instead, putting her faith in the expertise of the nurseries. Growing meconopsis takes a lot of patience.
Meconopsis likes to sit in well-drained, rich, damp humus that is a little acidic, a soil natural to forest floors where they are happiest to grow. They don’t like hot spots in the garden, and prefer dappled shade, protected from wind and weather.
Gardeners will find the plant offers a better show during those wetter cooler summers. It doesn’t like long hot spells, but prefers cooler climates and are only at their best or hardy from Zones 3 to 9, flowering in June.
If the plant is allowed to produce flowers in the first year, it will die as annuals do. So it’s best to remove the flower buds at that time, let it grow on to build up its root system and on through the following growing season until the plant has several crowns or stems emerging from ground level. At this point, the plant will be strong and more reliable.
Much depends on where the gardener has situated meconopsis. If the location isn’t ideal, it might not come back the second year and the gardener may want to just let it flower and enjoy it as an annual. If several seedlings were planted, the gardener could test the location, by removing the buds from half the plants and not the other half.
In the right environment, the plant may not be monocarpic. Plant at the edge of a woodland, and if the soil is moist and the area protected from drying winds, menocopsis should grow nicely to 3 or 4 feet tall. Penelope Hobhouse, in her book, Color in Your Garden, suggests the gardener only plant the blue poppy if all the conditions are met.
Blue poppies are wonderful when planted en masse, but consider adding subtle whites as well. Clematis montana is a lovely white flowering vine that can be planted beside a tree, with the vines layering over each other as well as over the blues of meconopsis. Clematis likes it’s roots in the cool shade as well and the two make good partners, striking a lovely balance of flower form and size with color.
References
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