Cardiocrinums (clearly close relatives of lilies) are wonderful plants for the Meconopsis garden. This is Cardiocrinum giganteum yunnanense. It flowers from top down and has often a dark purple stem. The flower spike is not as tall as the other other subspecies -  C. g. giganteum. This will be illustrated once it has flowered. They take about 9 years to flower from seed and this first spike is always very tall (6 - 7 feet) but after that the old bulb dies. This is not the end however as it  is surrounded by offsets of varying age and usually one or more will be large enough to flower every year almost indefinitely if in a rich bed with plenty of nutrients. They have a lovely smell too.

There are two spikes growing together here.