I have in the past, but mites and slugs tend to go for them and take the fun out of it here. Last attempt was a Meconopsis grandis I brought home from Heronswood (I think), slugs killed it second night while it was still in the pot.

The ones I had before were the more common M. betonicifolia.

I've grown Meconopsis x sheldonii (cross between M. grandis and M. betonicifolia) and it came back for several years. However, my garden is too small for it -- especially with the bananas, cannas and tetrapanax shading it out. A friend on Bainbridge Island (Linda Cochran) has grown it for years and it's now coming up from seed. She has A LOT of space.

Dan Hinkley had seedlings, too; he told a story of leading a tour of people from the East Coast through his garden and pretending to gripe about how invasive the blue poppies were. I still stop dead in my tracks when I see those blue flowers.

Wow, that is gorgeous. I LOVE the color. You should not have posted that pic. Now I have to have one, where can I get seeds or plants of this poppy?

luvmygarden

My memory is getting faint on this (like so many things, lol) but I've seen a brief segment on a tv gardening program that was filmed at Butchart...showing their patch of blue Himalayan poppies. Do I remember correctly that seedlings aren't to be allowed to bloom their 1rst year?

Patrick

Luvmygarden, plants aren't too hard to find in the Seattle metropolitan area, and Thompson and Morgan carries seed of several types.

I had some in my last Seattle garden but didn't really like the foliage and plants enough to dig them up when I sold that house. Pretty flowers though, aren't they??

Here's a link to just one type from Thompson and Morgan.
Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Meconopsis from Thompson and Morgan

I grew Meconopsis sheldonii for several years, but the early drought last year did it in. I had it behind a short shrub so we didn't see the foliage, just the spectacular flowers when they bloomed. But it is a little fussy, and we don't water much...may or may not try it again someday.

Patrick, I remember reading Dan saying don't let them flower the first year - my memory isn't exactly good though.

Some species of Himalayan poppies are truly monocarpic - they die after flowering - so why wait to enjoy the blooms? The more commonly available ones (grandis, betonicifolia, x sheldonii) can behave as monocarpic unless given ideal growing conditions, but if so provided will come back for several years if you allow several crowns to form before flowering. None are very long lived so you might as well enjoy what flowers you can get when you get 'em!

FWIW, the rather impressive Himalayan blue poppy display at Butcharts's are grown as annuals - they grow them in quantity each season, bed them out in late spring and as they go out of bloom, replace with fresh stock.

I had no luck trying to grow these in the hot interior, but hope to try again here on the coast. You may be suprised to learn that our local Eldercollege is offering a series of 4 lectures (plus free seeds) on this plant! I've registered for it and hope to learn a lot.

Hey Westgate and all,

That's cool. Let us know how the class went and how the poppies do for you.

Updates are encouraged!
Have fun,
Grant

I grow these. I actually have two plants, but I don't remember which ones they are. They are slightly different though. I haven't had a problem of them reseeding themselves....I wish they would. I baby these two plants as the flowers are magnificent. I had to build a shade cover for them this year because we took down a tree that was providing shade. So until the newly planted tree grows bigger, I have my blue poppies undercover with shade cloth.