Meconopsis in Cultivation

[Claire Cockcroft]

Thank you, Margaret.  I'm signed up and look forward to the seed exchange in the fall.
...Claire

[Margaret Thorne]

Margaret, thanks to your pictures and posts now I joined the Meconopsis group today.
I have been thinking about joining for several years, but never got around to it. My own plants are so common that I thought I couldn't give anything, but maybe I can in the future.

It is very clear from the 2023 Census results that members in Norway are having more success in growing Meconopsis than we are in the UK. I believe this is genuinely due to climatic differences as, although growing them has become less fashionable here than it used to be, those UK members who do try to grow them are very committed to doing so and greatly disappointed that it has become more difficult.
So, you can, very likely, make a significant contribution by virtue of having better growing conditions than we do and it would be great to have a future Census contribution from Finland! . Also, by concentrating on growing just a few species which are not likely to hybridise and building up good populations of them, you can certainly contribute to ensuring their continued survival in cultivation. Larger populations are more genetically diverse and therefore more able to survive climatic changes.

[Margaret Thorne]

Photos of more Meconopsis taxa identified as category ‘D’ – endangered in cultivation:

M. regia in cultivation; note the very finely toothed leaves which are indicative of the true species. Most examples in cultivation are hybridised with M. paniculata and have more coarsely toothed leaves. Hybrids occur on the Lamjung Himal, Annapurna, from where they were introduced during the 1954 Stainton, Sykes and Williams expedition.
M. robusta in cultivation: similar to M. gracilipes (now lost), lacking the black spots on the leaves of M. dhwojii (relatively secure)
M. simplicifolia subsp. grandiflora: Green Lake Trek, North Sikkim, India
M. simplicifolia subsp. grandiflora: in cultivation
M. wallichii var. wallichii: Kanchenjunga, West Sikkim, India
M. yaoshanesis: sorry – don’t have any photos. Somebody, please post or send me some!!

[Leena]

So, you can, very likely, make a significant contribution by virtue of having better growing conditions than we do and it would be great to have a future Census contribution from Finland! . Also, by concentrating on growing just a few species which are not likely to hybridise and building up good populations of them, you can certainly contribute to ensuring their continued survival in cultivation. Larger populations are more genetically diverse and therefore more able to survive climatic changes.

You are right that our climate may be good for Meconopsis, and I haven't had any trouble with big blue poppies, but I have lost seedlings of M. x complexa (from seed ex) and I think that type might be more difficult in my garden. I have now couple of them (seedlings) again, in a different spot, and we'll see if they are alive in spring. M.integrifolia also seems to grow well in my garden.

[Margaret Thorne]

You are right that our climate may be good for Meconopsis, and I haven't had any trouble with big blue poppies, but I have lost seedlings of M. x complexa (from seed ex) and I think that type might be more difficult in my garden. I have now couple of them (seedlings) again, in a different spot, and we'll see if they are alive in spring. M.integrifolia also seems to grow well in my garden.

We find that some of our evergreen monocarpic species do better if they are covered in winter, otherwise the rosettes rot, but this may not be practical for you to try, Leena



.

[ian mcdonald]

Is it likely that different colours planted together may produce viable seed and seed around?

[Leena]

We find that some of our evergreen monocarpic species do better if they are covered in winter, otherwise the rosettes rot, but this may not be practical for you to try, Leena

That looks good, and they get protection from rain.
I think here without snow cover the ground freezees so deep during winter, that it is better to have snow on top of plants, but when I had M. x complexa seedlings I had tried to cover them with spruce brances, and they still rotted. They look fine when snow melted but soon the old leaves started to rot and no new ones emerged.
Now I'm trying them in different spot, in more sandy slope and we'll see if they are alive in spring. I have thought to put M.prattii from Holubeck (if the germinate) to the same slope. There is no winter wet for sure. It is trial and error.

[Margaret Thorne]

Is it likely that different colours planted together may produce viable seed and seed around?

Meconopsis species and subspecies hybridise in the wild and in cultivation. Whether or not they will ‘seed around’ depends on how suitable the conditions are in your garden and, as they are becoming generally less favourable in the UK, it is best not to leave it to chance if you want an annual display of flowers. Hybrid seed can develop into particularly robust plants on account of hybrid vigour, but in my experience, these plants usually produce fewer seeds than pure species and are often completely sterile.
In 2023, I flowered two plants labelled Meconopsis WYSIWYG (x complexa), one had yellow petals, the other red, and despite cross pollinating them, one produced no seed and the other very little. The result of allowing different species of evergreen monocarpic Meconopsis to freely flower and cross pollinate in a garden is most likely to lose them all.
In order to ensure the future survival of each species in cultivation, The Meconopsis Group is therefore inviting individual members to champion one species each and grow them in isolation from other species with which they could hybridise.


M. WYSIWYG red flowered


M. WYSIWYG yellow flowered


M. WYSIWYG leaf of yellow flowered plant


M. WYSIWYG leaf of red flowered plant


M. WYSIWYG red & yellow flowered plants

[Margaret Thorne]

Participants in the 2023 Census made mention of 50 Meconopsis taxa, but of these only 32 had flowered and produced seed, 13 of which had been grown by just a single person. Those which no participant succeeded in flowering in 2023 include: true M. napaulensis, M. superba, M. wallichii var. fusco-purpurea, M. simplicifolia subsp. simplicifolia, M. sulphurea subsp. gracilifolia, M. speciosa and M. wilsonii (any of the subspecies).


M. napaulensis, Laurebina Yak, Gosainkunda, Rasuwa, Nepal


M. superba, Ha, Bhutan


M. wallichii var. fusco-purpurea, Solukhumbu, Nepal


M. simplicifolia subsp. simplicifolia, West Sikkim, India


M. sulphurea subsp. gracilifolia, Rutok, East of Lhasa, Tibet

[Margaret Thorne]

Seed of only 14 Meconopsis species was donated to The Meconopsis Group seed exchange in 2023 and a further 6 species have been added to the list using previous years’ supplies from the seed bank, giving 24 subspecies in total. Only 9 species appeared on the SRGC seed list.
Taxa which have recently disappeared from the seed exchanges include: M. henrici, true M. napaulensis, M. wallichii var. wallichii, M. simplicifolia subsp. grandiflora and M. simplicifolia subsp. simplicifolia. Some of these are definitely still in cultivation, so if you have them, be sure to take care of them.

[ian mcdonald]

Meconopsis in the garden, June 2023. According to the labels they are M. betonicifolia, M. betonicifolia alba, M. lingholm, Not sure about the tall red one but think it is a M. napaulensis look-alike plus M. Hensol Violet.

[Margaret Thorne]

Meconopsis in the garden, June 2023. According to the labels they are M. betonicifolia, M. betonicifolia alba, M. lingholm, Not sure about the tall red one but think it is a M. napaulensis look-alike plus M. Hensol Violet.

Thank you for posting this photo of your colourful group of flowering Meconopsis plants. Four of these are perennials and should flower again for years, forming clumps which can be divided to maintain their vigour. Now for the pedantic bit!
Your M. betonicifolia is most likely M. baileyi subsp. baileyi, M. betonicifolia alba is M. baileyi subsp. baileyi var. alba and M. Hensol Violet is also a form of M. baileyi subsp. baileyi, its correct name is M. baileyi subsp. baileyi ‘Hensol Violet’. So, you have three forms of the same subspecies with different colour flowers which should cross pollinate and produce fertile seed from which you should get a good range of colours, at least from second generation plants.
M. ‘Lingholm’ is a fully fertile cultivar derived by chromosome doubling from the sterile hybrid M. x sheldonii. If you have only one of these plants, it would be interesting to know if it produced fertile seed and, if so, whether or not it comes true to its seed parent plant.
Your red flowered plant appears to be an evergreen monocarpic, correctly named M. x complexa, which has probably now died. These hybrids were formerly known as M. napaulensis hort, but because M. napaulensis is highly unlikely to have played any part in this hybrid group of plants, M. x complexa is now the appropriate name. If several of these plants are grown together, they usually set seed and it would be very interesting to know if yours has.

[ian mcdonald]

Thanks Margaret, I,ll keep a look-out to see if I get any seedlings. I don,t keep labels next to plants now as they only reminded me what used to be there.

[Margaret Thorne]

Based on the 2022 and 2023 Species Census results, only five taxa are considered to be “secure” in cultivation (category ‘A’). Of these M. baileyi subsp. baileyi is the one most commonly grown. It is widely available as plants and seeds and occurs in different colour forms, as Ian’s post demonstrates.


M. baileyi subsp. baileyi has slightly smaller flowers than other big blue poppy species


M. baileyi subsp. baileyi has cordate leaves; this feature easily distinguishes it from other similar species


M. baileyi subsp. baileyi usually has single blue flowers in its wild form; its short style and stigma are another important distinguishing feature


White flowered forms of M. baileyi subsp. baileyi are quite frequent in cultivation


Cluster headed forms of M. baileyi subsp. baileyi are also popular and widely available

[Maggi Young]

Steven Stehouwer asks:  " looking for germination information for Meconopsis simplicifolia. Thanks."