Himalayan Poppies

Has anyone tried to grow Himalayan Poppies? How easy are the seeds to sprout? I know there are a couple different strains. Thanks for the info!

This year I winter sowed Meconopsis cambrica, Meconopsis Lingholm and Meconopsis grandis (the last 2 maybe the same, will have to see when they are blooming).
I had an overwhelming germination., hundreds of seedlings of each.
They need a cold period, so if you don't want to winter sow, you must stratisfy the seed. They must be kept in shade all the time.

Jonna

The problem is getting fresh seeds-------then they will germinate.
I only have a few sprouts this year.

Where do you get the best seed in the U.S. for the poppies?

That I do not know.
They all seem to give low germination.

I have some seeds left. Since it's a perennial it can be sowed until June/July if you have the chance to stratisfy them. Ofcourse I'm not sure they will germinate, but the germination I had was so great, I can't hardly believe there will be no germination at all a few months later.
I would like to trade for something else or for the cost of postage ($ 1.50 only via PayPal, since I can't use american stamps here)

I can send you $1.50 via paypal if you want. I think all I need is your email address. Can you mark them so I know which species they are?

Peony,

I'll send you the 3 I have, will ofcourse mark them.
My email address is jonnasudenius@skynet.be
Please d-mail me your address, so I know where to send the seeds to. Or are you in the address exchange?

Jonna

I sent you $2.50 (a little extra for your trouble). Thanks so much! I really appreciate the seeds.

My address:
Anne Stewart
31 Shire Oaks Drive
Pittsford, NY 14534
USA

Thank you Anne, I received your payment.
I will ship the seeds tomorrow morning (European time). Usually it takes 5-8 days from Belgium to the USA.

Jonna

Thank you very much!

johnna, I will be happy to send your payment through PayPal for the three different kinds...

if you have any left...I will d-mail you my address, or you can get the address from PayPal, right?

Evelyn,

I have no seeds left of the Meconopsis grandis or the Meconopsis Lingholm.
I do have seeds left of the Meconopsis cambria Francis Perry and Meconopsis cambria aurantiaca, but I'm not sure if they're still viable when they arrive at you.

Please be aware of the fact that these seeds came from a trade, I didn't harvest them myself.
Although they all germinated very well, I had problems to keep them alive. We have an extremely hot and dry summer for my zone and I lost all the seedlings of the M. cambria's. I had no room enough to keep them in full shade.
Also had problems with the M. grandis and M. Lingholm, but they were in full shade and they survived.

Maybe you'd better ask Peony_Anne first if they germinated for her.

If you still want to try the M. cambrica's , please submit me $ 1.50 for shipping via PayPal at jonnasudenius@skynet.be

Jonna

Hi, Johnna!

M. cambria - is it blue or the orange one? Yes we have hot summers here too. I had read previously that not to even bother to try them (Meconopsis) if you live in a hot summer area, and that they do very well in mild, cool summer climates.

Hi Evelyn,

The M. cambria's are the orange ones. The M. grandis and Lingholm are the blue ones.
Don't know how hot your summers are, but we had here several weeks of 77°F - 91°F, which is very unusual for our zone. And no rain at all. I lost a lot of plants, also because watering the garden is forbidden since 12 days. All our water comes from wells and they are dried out. We are lucky to have some rainwater containers, so I could save some plants.
Usually our summer temperatures are between 64° and 75°, and a few days with higher temperatures.
If you want to try any of the Meconopsis, you will need a place in full shade.

Jonna

Wow...I am sorry about your dry well. That is awful. We have a good well and better than living in the cities as their water has chemicals in them. I wish I could send you some of my water. But that is like saying I wish I could send you rain. We never have rain during the summer and it is above 80° most days. Our rain most likely will not be here until October or November. Who knows what will happen this year as we had snow in May, which was highly unusual as our storms are usually gone by the end of March. So it was like winter and then a few days of spring, (2 weeks) and then it was summer. I scrambled quickly to prepare the beds for spring planting, and now there are a million weeds...I have been working little by little to get the place in order as well as renewing some beds. It will take me until fall to complete my task and then, hopefully some nice weather to be enjoyed before winter...

Thanks for the offer but I will wait for cooler days to plant the blue poppies...

I've grown them for the past 3 years. I got the first batch of seed from Weezingreens in Alaska. I ;had good germination of those (I think she kept them in the freezer) but they got some awful bacterial blight and all died. The next batch was from JL Hudson, last year, and had good germination. By end of summer had some 3-4 leaved plants which came back this spring, but haven't bloomed yet. I did on impulse buy some seed from Butchart Gardens. Pathetic germination! The location mine seem to like best is on the northeast side of a 6 foot fence, on a slope, and also on drip irrigation. They get partial shade, very sandy soil, and regular water. I did try winter sowing some of the meconopsis lingholm and didn't have very good germination - maybe the slugs ate them as soon as they came up?