Meconopsis 'Lingholm'

Meconopsis 'Lingholm'

Description:
Fertile seed. Have seedlings. Beautiful true sky blue flowers open in succession over a month on tall stems on this hard to find Himalayan blue poppy hybrid. From a basal clump of narrowish golden bristled mid green leaves sturdy 1.2 meter stems emerge bearing multiple flower buds. Blooms reach 9-12 cm in diameter with petals, though delicate looking, can withstand some wind. One of the easiest blue Meconopsis to grow from seed and to cultivate. Basal clump will get larger in the right spot. NEVER EVER be tempted to divide plants unless you know what you are doing.

Notes:
An interesting hybrid between M. betonicifolia and M grandis. A tetraploid (2 x 2N) or in English...the number of chromosomes is double. It took me a while to fully identify this plant before confident enough to offer. Seeds are more football shaped and 3x larger than the spherical M. betonicifolia seeds. Grow in acidic soil as alkaline soil tends to give mauve tints to the sky blue blooms.

Cultivation:
For Meconopsis we use the following method: prepare flats or plug trays with a damp moisture retentive humus rich acidic medium with a top sowing layer of moist coarse sand 4-5 mm deep. SOW THINLY! Sprinkle seed over the prepared surface. Use a fine mist to seat seeds into the sand. Cover with clear plastic sheet, then a clear plastic dome with a couple layers of newspaper laid on top. Mist every other day or so. Never EVER let seed/seedlings become dry or waterlogged. Remove paper and inner plastic layer when green sprouts start to appear in 14-30 days and provide bright indirect light (never direct sun!). Provide some ventilation (occasionally remove dome), but keep using the dome until seedlings have strong enough root system. Bottom heat greater than 22 C seriously impairs germination rate. Don’t separate seedlings growing together.