Disclaimer: I did not grow this, either
I tried to grow the Blue Himalayan Poppy back in 2008. (Meconopsis Betonicifolia) I failed so miserably that I can't even recall if a single seed ever even germinated. I think I've blocked it out. Oh! The trauma! The disappointment! I was so hopeful, so confident, and so crushed.
We'll I'm getting back on the horse this year. I've ordered 2 packs of seeds from Park Seed. Unfortunately two packs of seeds only gets me a total of 20 seeds. What a rip! This is the reason I never order from Park (and the reason most of my gardening friends don't, either.) Unfortunately, these Blue Poppies are hard to find and Park Seed is one of very few vendors who carry them.
EDIT: The Blue Himalayan Poppy seed packs from Park Seed actually contain 100 seeds, not 10. The Petunia only contains 10 and I got them mixed up. Apologies to Park Seed!
From what I've read, these Poppies like really damp soil. Never let it dry out. And also a fair amount of shade, especially in hotter climates. If I can get them to grow, I'm thinking of planting them along my north-facing fence line. I have a narrow garden that only gets a little morning sun, then it is shaded by the fence for the remainder of the day.
I'm planning to diversify in an effort to get these bastards to grow. I'll start some indoors now. I'll winter sow some in a few weeks, and I'll direct sow some now, too.
If any of you (besides Jodi, the queen of the Blue Himalayan Poppy) have ever grown these successfully, please leave me a message so I can know that there is hope for those of us who don't live in Canada (or apparently Alaska.) And by all means, if you'd like to join me in this experiment, please do.
20 seeds?!?!?
ReplyDeleteHow much did it come out to per seed when you took the price and shipping into consideration?
I should get into the Blue Himalayan Poppy business.
It's true that the blue poppies thrive up here in Alaska. They grow well in our cool, coastal climate in Zone 3 & 4. My neighbor has two of them on his lawn that get up to about 6 foot tall and covered with blooms by mid-summer.
ReplyDeletePoppies do not like my soil here. My mom however can grow beautiful poppies. Perhaps I'll buy some seeds for these for her, they're beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWow, those are gorgeous. I can see why so many people were talking about it last year. However, I'm going to have to stick to photos since I'm here is zone 9.
ReplyDeleteYou may know that I too have attempted the Himalayan Blue Poppies several times, both from seed and from plants, and I'm doing the seed thing again this year. I winter rabisowed them the day of the Super Bowl. We'll see what happens! We can compare notes!
ReplyDeleteThis is one that would be fun for a bunch of us to try and grow at the same time and see who has success!
So excited about the BH seeds I got from Cara!
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