July 23 | Plant of the week Part V

The Guggerbachtal-Alpinum open again

The coveted meconopsis (false poppies) begin to flower.

The false poppies are very popular in the garden world, but tricky fellows. They all come from great heights, up to over 6000 m above sea level in the Himalayas. In the garden you need similar requirements as in the distribution area. They grow on mineral mostly acidic, silicate soils, with deep limestone. For this they need enough moisture and high UV radiation, especially during their vegetative growth. The best known false poppies are the blue flowering species. But there are also species that bloom pink, red, violet, white and yellow. Some are dwarfs, only 10 cm tall, others reach up to 180 cm. About 45 species are known, of which there are short-lived and long-lived. The short-lived are mostly monocarpic. This means they flower only once in their life and survive by self seeding. Most monocarpic species flower in the second or third year after sowing. But if the weather doesn’t suit them, they like to push the flowers a little ahead of them and bloom a year or two later.