Meconopsis Lingholm. Probably repeating myself but if you aspire to blue poppies in the garden this is the one. It was originally found in a Lake district garden (Cumbria). It is derived from the old sterile hybrid  M. x sheldonii. This was a cross between M. betonicifolia and M. grandis and these were sterile.  By  chance a part of one of these plants became tetraploid and now there were two sets of chromosomes from each parent and normal division could take place and plant became fertile and produces masses of seed since they are vigorous plants and very long lived. I found a similar fertile pod on a M. x sheldonii many years ago in my garden and this too produced a rather smaller and perhaps less effective perennial fertile plant called I called Kingsbarns x hybrids after where I live in East Fife. 

In the heaviest shade behind my main Meconopsis beds and in front of the bee bowls are a fern collection alongside a path. I love the delicate spring green of these that gradually darken as summer progresses. 

Fritillaria is another good genus where many are happy to flower in spring in open ground but are quite happy in the sun in the peat beds during the summer. All my plants in this genus are seed grown and most set good seed annually to pass on. My memory is not what it used to be but I think this is Fritillaria grandiflora - certainly a very large flower for this genus. 

Another picture that really is an indoor plant but in full flower in an bed in the alpine house. This is Iris hoogiana variety noblesse. I also have the straight species. I have never tried these outside - perhaps I should. They have a wonderful smell which is why I have a whole row along the far side of the indoor bed. In the garden the Meconopsis rosette species are sending up flowering spikes - so not too long to wait!

Another wonderful blue flower - the Chatham Island forget-me-not. This is Mytosotidium hortensia locally known as the Kopa Kopa. It is in the Boraginaceae but not a forget me not as we know them. It is said to need shelter from frost and I do have it on a shaded south facing wall and it regularly sets seeds which give me young plants. I have always loved blue flowers and there was a man with the pseudonym of Novalis (who was actually Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg  1772 - 1801) from the Harz Mountains. He said the blue flower symbolises desire, love and beauty. 

Slightly taken aback to find this at Branklyn. I have kept this for years in my daughter's Caithness garden. It does set seed from a single plant but have no idea where the garden in Perth obtained this from or why on earth it is called James Cobb! It is one of three distinct forms of Meconopsis grandis that I have  and  always called it Early Sikkim. As I write the first blue poppies are out in the garden of my Invergowrie daughter which is a very early date. 

The first flower of a meconopsis for 2014. This is Meconopsis punicea and it is always very early compared to the other species I have in cultivation. I have only six plants to flowers this season and although on a really hot day they do open right up I always hand pollinate between any plants that are out. It is usually 3 or 4 days after they open that the pollen is shed and I pollinate with a soft paintbrush as long as there is any pollen still shedding. They must be insect pollinated in the wild and I have always assumed the long drooping flower is to keep rain off, since it must flower in a wet season in China. It is an extra-ordinary colour for a 'blue poppy' and my favorite.
I have done very badly with my seed sown Meconopsis. I have already been rescued with trays of Meconopsis punicea to prick on (all done). Yesterday I traveled up to home in Scotland via a friend, Jeanie Jones from Dumfries. She has traveled very widely in the Himalayas and I met her when I went on an organised trip to Yunnan a few years ago. She is the most green fingered person I have ever known and has a huge range of wonderful plants and almost countless pots of seedlings. Her speciality is Primula with a long list which she has seen in the wild. She gave me all sorts of Meconopsis that I had lost and these are all now pricked on. So my sins have been forgiven and I can replant the 'peat garden' with all the different species that I love to have.