This Meconopsis napaulensis is one of our new plants, in fact it is the plant we won last weekend by being particularly swotty and winning the Plant Heritage quiz. Many meconopsis, including this one, are both a blessing and a curse. They have seductively furry leaf rosettes, eminently strokable and a joy in their own right. This little rosette of hairy leaves, when the mood takes it, produces a flower spike that can grow to 6ft tall with multiple heads of pink or red or even white flowers. These flowers are sublimely beautiful and when their blooming is over the plant dies, end of story, end of plant that has been nurtured and loved. Of course the seed should be collected and the cycle repeated but I have found germination tricky. I have never seen this particular species in bloom, we had a similar Meconoposis paniculata Ginger Form a couple of years ago which was known as The Hamster, but the flowers were quite an anticlimax. I should imagine this poppy’s flowers will be quite a spectacle and I hope we manage to coax it to its magnificent swan song.
ontheedgegardening 