One to look out for May 2011 – Meconopsis ‘Mrs Jebb’

As we leave a wonderful month of weather during April, I cannot help observing that many plants are flowering several weeks earlier than in recent years.  This is no more significant than in the genus of Meconopsis. This year as April closes a cultivar of Meconopsis, M. ’Mophead’ has already finished flowering and another six are well along the way.

My choice of “one to look out for” is perhaps one of the finest of all the Himalayan Blue Poppies, M. ‘Mrs Jebb’. I first obtained this plant as a gift from my good friends, Margaret and Henry Taylor. This was in turn a gift to them from the late Molly Sanderson of N. Ireland. As soon as I saw this plant flowering, over 15 years ago, I recognised a close affinity to plants that I had raised from seed for a number of years, M. ‘Crewdson Hybrids’. This was a highly variable strain of hybrids bearing all the hallmarks of MM. betonicifolia and grandis. This though, was probably a selection from this strain and in recent years another selection has been given the name, M. ‘Crewdson Hybrid’. Far away the best of the crop, though, is ‘Mrs Jebb’ and not surprisingly this cultivar was given an Award of Merit (AM) by the RHS in 2006.

This is a sterile cultivar, in that it sets no seed at all, so propagation must be carried out vegetatively and of course all the resulting progeny will be identical. I find that the time that suits me best and works satisfactorily is just as the plant comes in to growth in the spring. The clumps ought to be about three years old and should never be lifted and divided when dry or under stress. Soak well before lifting.

Plant newly purchased plants or recently divided propagules in a moisture-retentive, humus-rich soil. I prefer to plant them in an acid mixture with plenty of very well-rotted horse manure. A partly shaded aspect is preferable and at no time should plants dry out completely. This cultivar will be enjoyed at its best from mid-May to early June according to season

There are a number of nurseries who may carry stocks of this cultivar from time to time and they include:

Edrom Nurseries – www.edromnurseries.co.uk

MacPlants – www.macplants.co.uk

Kevock Garden Plants – www.kevockgarden.co.uk

For more information about Meconopsis see The Meconopsis Group website: www.meconopsis.org