Meconopsis 2022

[Leena]

Meconopsis flowered well this year, and surprisingly none of the plants suffered from a difficult winter.

I have plants grown from seed ex seeds called Jim's ex, and they turned out to be very nice plants. They started to flower a bit later than my old 'Lingholm' (or what I had as such), but earlier than M.bailey plants.
The first picture is from it's leaves in spring.
Then there are pictures of flowers, large and blue.
and then picture of their seed pods which are to my eyes intermediate to 'Lingholm' and bailey seedpods.
Last picture is the seed pod of my 'Lingholm/sheldonii.

My question now is that I have seeds from this Jim's ex to send to seed exchange, but how should I name them? Should I keep the name Jim's ex? They also may have hybridized here with other Meconopsis I have. What does Jim look like? Is it the same as 'Jimmy Bayne'?

[Leena]

Another Meconopsis which I have grown from seed ex was Meconopsis Pink Perennial.
These plants turned out to be more M.bailey-types when looking at leaves and seed pods, and they also flowered later at the same time as M.baileyi.
They were very floriferous, with flowers placed from the stems more than in my other Meconopsis. I admit I don't know enough about Meconopsis.
From these seeds some plants were blue, and some purplish lilac, and in those plants the flower shape wasn't very nice to my eyes. Blue flowered ones and normal flower shape.
In the last picture there from the right there is first "pink perennial" in full flower, then in the middle Jim's ex in the end of it's flowering and in the back 'Glacier Blue', M.baileyi type.

[Leena]

In the first picture there is M.gakyidiana in the background. (in the previous post).

[Maggi Young]

Info gleaned from a talk by David Rankin this evening!
Curtis Magazine Meconopsis wanbaensis.

A new article has been published by David Rankin. 

"A yellow-flowered Meconopsis that has been cultivated in recent years under various names, particularly M.pseudointegrifolia, has now been recognised as a new variety of M.wanbaensis.  

It has been described as Meconopsis wanbaensis var. undulatissima in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol 30 (2): pp. 323-336 (2022), with a painting by Anne Chambers."

Unfortunately we are not able to supply a link to the article.

[Margaret Thorne]

My question now is that I have seeds from this Jim's ex to send to seed exchange, but how should I name them? Should I keep the name Jim's ex? They also may have hybridized here with other Meconopsis I have. What does Jim look like? Is it the same as 'Jimmy Bayne'?

‘Jimmy Bayne’ is a Meconopsis cultivar named by the late Evelyn Stevens in 1997 and registered by The Meconopsis Group in 2002. Further details about it and photographs may be found on The Meconopsis Group website (under plants, cultivars, George Sherriff Group). As with any named cultivar, it is essential to propagate it vegetatively (by division in the case of Meconopsis) for the resulting plants to retain the name ‘Jimmy Bayne’. It is supposedly a sterile plant, but in practise it does produce some seed, so plants grown from this are not entitled to be called by the cultivar name. They should, in theory, be inferior to their seed parent, but Stuart Pawley (formerly SRGC Seed Reception Manager) grew plants from seed produced by ‘Jimmy Bayne’ which he considered to be superior to the seed parent plant and he therefore submitted resulting seed to the seed exchange under the name ‘Jim’s ex’. Since then this name has appeared on the SRGC seed list several time and it seems likely that this has not all been first generation seed from ‘Jimmy Bayne’ plants, so I guess Ian and Carole probably would accept it under that name.
The Meconopsis Group, however, makes seed such as this available only for experimental purposes. The suggestion that you can order a packet of seed from the SRGC seedex and grow a dozen plants which are superior to a named cultivar (single plants of which will set you back £12 each) is not particularly welcome as far as those of our members who run nurseries are concerned!
Further information about Stuart’s experimentation with Meconopsis can be found in ‘The Rock Garden’147 pages102-109 entitled ‘Where have all the Green Fingers gone?’
Any Meconopsis seed submitted to a seed exchange might have become hybridised unless the plants from which it was collected had been covered and hand pollinated, so all recipients of seed should check the identity of their plants before re-submitting their seed under the same name.

[Leena]

Margaret, thank you for your message.
Understanding where my plants have come makes them all the more important to me. They have done well in my garden, and after last summer when they flowered for the first time, they gave a lot of seeds which I have sown myself and also donated to the seed ex (with the name ex Jim's ex), but most likely they have crossed here with M.gakyidiana (or plants grown as such from seed ex) or 'Lingholm' or plants grown from FBG seeds with no other name, and we'll see what the plants will be like in three years time. I understand how it is for nurseries selling named cultivars.  Here we have no opportunity to buy named plants after Brexit so I am even more grateful being able to grow plants from seeds.
Thank you also for the information from The Rock Garden, I have somehow missed it, but read it now. Really interesting information about Meconopsis.

[Margaret Thorne]

I, too, sympathise with nurseries, it must be a very difficult way to make a living and it is a thoroughly good thing that customers are willing to pay for expensive Meconopsis cultivars. Much as I would like the nurseries to thrive, my personal interest is in growing Meconopsis species from seed and being able to study them at all stages of their development. Here in the Scottish Border hills we have a relatively better climate for doing so than in much of the rest of the country. Many members of The Meconopsis Group failed to germinate and raise plants in 2022 and also lost plants from the previous years’ sowings. We succeeded in raising a lot of plants from seed, but I fear we will have huge winter losses from the abnormally cold weather in December and the mild wet conditions now. Meconopsis gakyidiana is one of the species which we are in danger of losing from cultivation as it seems to have become hybridised.

[Leena]

Meconopsis gakyidiana is one of the species which we are in danger of losing from cultivation as it seems to have become hybridised.

Here are pictures of my M.gakyidiana, grown from seed ex seeds 2019 and they flowered last summer for the first time. It usually takes three years to get flowering Meconopsis plants in my climate (or is it my care..). The colour of the flower is not so bright as other FBG but more muted.
These were the first ones to start flowering of my Meconopsis, 'Lingholm' starting a few days after M.gakyidina.
Are these also hybrids? Probably when they are garden origin. I don't mind because they were good plants but just that I know when I give their seeds away.
First picture is leaves in spring, and then flowers. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the seed pods.

[Claire Cockcroft]

That's a beauty!

[Leena]

Thank you Claire, I like it very much.

[Véronique Macrelle]

beautiful!
their very hairy leaves are interesting too, I think, especially on the first picture: an animal side...

at the moment, the plants are completely resting without leaves, or there is something left.

[Leena]

Thank you Veronique,
also here Meconopsis are below ground resting.
The past week has been unusually warm, and almost all the snow has melted.
I hope we get new snow before the cold comes again, but Meconopsis came through last winter well,
so I'm not very worried about them.

[Margaret Thorne]

Here are pictures of my M.gakyidiana, grown from seed ex seeds 2019 and they flowered last summer for the first time. It usually takes three years to get flowering Meconopsis plants in my climate (or is it my care..). The colour of the flower is not so bright as other FBG but more muted.
These were the first ones to start flowering of my Meconopsis, 'Lingholm' starting a few days after M.gakyidina.
Are these also hybrids? Probably when they are garden origin. I don't mind because they were good plants but just that I know when I give their seeds away.
First picture is leaves in spring, and then flowers. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the seed pods.

Your plants are lovely and well worth growing, but I don't think you have pure M. gakyidiana. The most striking and obvious feature of this species is the bowl shaped flowers on account of convex petals, whereas M. grandis plants have much flatter petals and flowers. The next feature to look out for is the leafy stem (which your plants do have) in M. gakyidiana. In M. grandis the leaves are mostly in a rosette at the base, there are bracts in a false whorl and not much between. The bracts of the false whorl are toothed and a distinctive triangular shape in M. gakyidiana and usually quite oblong and entire in M. grandis. The leaves are clasping in M. gakyidiana and the few which M. grandis have are not. Finally the capsules of M. gakyidiana tend to have dark valves which M. grandis does not.
I think the two species probably cross freely in gardens and the distinctive features of M. gakyidiana are gradually eroded. It is probably the more difficult of the two species to grow as it comes from the very wettest parts of the Himalaya. It may grow much better for you than it does here in Scotland, but much of the seed in the exchanges is hybridised now.

[Leena]

Your plants are lovely and well worth growing, but I don't think you have pure M. gakyidiana.

Thank you so much Margaret for explaining the differences in Meconopsis gakyidiana and grandis  . Now I know what to look in my plants, and if I get seeds from my M.gakyidiana I will call them M.gakyidiana hybrids. Or would just Meconopsis hybrid be better? Thank you also for the pictures, and the seed pod of M.gakyidiana looks different from what I remember of my plants, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures of them.
I am fortunate that Meconopsis like my garden, they are so wonderful plants and flower here for at least a month (June and maybe beginning of July).

[Margaret Thorne]

If you go to The Meconopsis Group website (https://themeconopsisgroup.org/), there is a link to the 'Species Gallery' on the home page and there are lots more photos there of M. gakyidiana as well as many other species.