Meconopsis dhwojii & M. gracilipes

[Margaret Thorne]

Did you eventually have any success with your Meconopsis dhwojii, Lars?
I was asking around at last Saturday’s Meconopsis Group meeting in Edinburgh and nobody I spoke to seems to have this species in cultivation now. I am particularly interested in it and its close relationship to Meconopsis gracilipes, which we (David, I and our AGS group) saw in Tibet this year. We found it between Zhangmu and Nyalam, which is where it is recorded in the Flora of China - not long after crossing the Friendship Bridge from Nepal (less than 30km, but at a considerably higher altitude of 3100m). Some plants in the population had black spots on the foliage and others did not. As this is the main feature which is supposed to distinguish it from Meconopsis dhwojii, I am interested in investigating what other differences there might be (if any!!).
My research on Meconopsis gracilipes shows that Ian (the Christie kind) once grew this plant.
Does anybody still have either species in cultivation?

[Maggi Young]

I think Margaret, in her first sentence, is referring to this post from Lars some time ago, in another thread: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1791.msg45228#msg45228

where he wrote, on
 May 15, 2008, 08:48:36 PM  ...... "Talking about meconopsis, the seeds from the seed exchange (grandis, latifolia, dhwojji and rudis) have germinated well for me. I hope they will grow on well. The present weather conditions here at the moment should suit them well..."

[gote]

I have tried to grow M dhwojii some three times but the yuong plants always died their first winter.
The horridula and lookalikes are no problem. neither the big blues but I am unable to overwinter the big monocarp ones (napaulensis, superba etc) and also dhwojii
It needs milder climate than I have. In 2005, I saw seedlings of dhwojii at the Branklyn Garden. perhaps they still have it.
Göte

[Margaret Thorne]

Thanks for that clarification, Maggi. I was intending to add my comments to the existing Meconopsis dhwojii topic, but I got a warning message advising me to start a new one. 
Thanks, Gote, for your comments about growing M. dhwojii. Both James Cobb and Kit Grey-Wilson in their respective books (Meconopsis and Poppies) say that this species is comparatively easy to grow, but it doesn’t seem to be as straightforward as other evergreen monocarpics. I shall certainly try to find out if it is still doing well at Branklyn. John Mitchell at RBGE says he has some seeds – so maybe they will be able to keep it going in cultivation.
I had one plant of M. dhwojii which I bought from Ron McBeath at Lamberton a few years ago, but he no longer has any. Mine flowered quickly and died without setting any seed – I know I should have bought two plants to get seed!
I did slightly better with Meconopsis superba this year which sets seed reliably even with only one plant. This must be why it has survived longer in cultivation than some of the others. I originally had 3 plants, grown from seed, but didn’t cover the rosettes in winter, so the 2 others died.

[James Cobb]

M. dhwojii is still in cultivation though increasingly rare. I have never found it more difficult than say 'napaulensis' The big problem and probably why it is becoming increasingly rare is that it readily hybridises with 'napaulensis' The is a messy sterile plant but was graced with the name of M. ramsdeniorum. M. dhwojii needs conserving and that means growing it in isolation from other evergreen monocarpic species. On the Meconopsis World website there is an image of M. gracilipes as grown many years ago in the St. Andrews botanic gardens. This is different in growth from M. dhwojii but I am really not sure if the M. gracilipes back then were correctly labelled in the first place.

[P. Kohn]

This is a rather late contribution but it is worth mentioning that seed of M. dhwojii was distributed by the Meconopsis Group this year and we have successfully raised several plants.  Hoping for flowers next year.

We grew both M. dhwojii and M. gracilipes successfully at Kerrachar but did not get viable seed from M. gracilipes so lost it after flowering. For us it was monocarpic as expected. The two species were quite distinctive and  gracilipes was even finer than dhwojii. I always assumed that the lack of viable seed resulted from growing the two species side by side - I am sure one of our visitors put this idea into my mind

[Maggi Young]

Hello Peter - that's good news about your new success with that M. dhwojii seed.

 I do hope that some folks are still managing to get to Kerracher, albeit without the boat service, to visit your gardens.

[P. Kohn]

Sadly we are no longer there and John and Niki who live there now don't have time to maintain the garden although they still welcome the occasional visitor. However, many of the big shrubs will last a long time and the Darwin Garden is doing its own thing as was always intended. The Nothofagus forest is getting really tall and the Tierra del Fuego shrubs have fused together really well. Couldn't find much sign of meconopsis last time we visited in May though.

[Maggi Young]

Peter, I do not doubt you will miss being at Kerracher - though perhaps life will be rather easier for you without the work of such a place. I wish you well in your new home.