Sunday 17 May 2015

Meconopsis simplicifolia. This is a photograph taken in the wild by friends in the Himalayas. It does not really do it justice. It is very variable in the wild and it can have really large pale blue flowers that hang down and always single flowers on basal stalks. Dr Grey Wilson in his book on 'Meconopsis'  has split it into 2 sub species. M. simplicifolia ssp simplicifolia and  M.s. grandiflora. When I cultivated them there was Bailey's form and a host of similar ones. Some were definitely biennial what ever you did but others would at least pretend to be perennial though I always found them difficult and lost them. Probably would be easier in cold northern climates. A good large pale blue form is highly desirable and I would love to have it again. It characteristically has blue filaments to the anthers while M . grandis, with which one could confuse it, has white filaments.