Meconopsis punicea - Photos In The Garden

	Flowering as a biennial will stand close planting.
Good growth by late October. Planted out August.	Another example of a species being grown to a high standard north of the arctic circle in Tromso, Norway. Finn Haugli.
A rather attractive mutation in a Japanese garden in the island of Sapporo. Variation in this species is actually rare in cultivation - one can always hope for a white one! Tetsuo Nakazato.	4 plants of this colour variation occured in my garden in 2009. This is not M. x Cookei. I do not grow M. quintuplinervia but I suppose a hybrid with something else is possible. Shape and structure iidentical to M. punicea, remains to be seen if it is fertile. Not particularly attractive and care needed to stop contaminating normal red flowers.
This species typical hangs down with closed flowers but in warm humid weather it does open up after about 3 days. At this stage much pollen is usually shed and bees would pollinate it. However in cool or dry weather they can remain closed and hand pollinating at all times is sensible to obtain a seed set.	There have been suggestions that this species is perennial in the wild - this needs more careful investigation since in the garden they can look perennial. The plant above has finished flowering and set seed, the root is rather dead but there are new side shoots. Experience says that even if these are rooted in mist they are hard to grow on and where they do succeed it is with a poor flower in late autumn.