Special Meeting, 8th May 2010 - Toshio Yoshida

At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the lecture theatre.
Time: 10.00 for 10.30 - 15.30 with tea and coffee available at 10.00 and at lunch-time.
(Bring you own picnic lunch.)
Toshio Yoshida, the eminent plant photographer and field botanist from Japan, is coming to Edinburgh in May. We are delighted that Toshio has agreed to give a couple of talks to The Meconopsis Group. His general title is "Photographing plants in wildest China with the main emphasis on Meconopsis". The first talk, in the morning, is on "Remotest northwestern Yunnan (2006-2009)" and the second, in the afternoon, is on "More in Yunnan, and in Mianning, southwestern Sichuan (2009)".

This will be a superb opportunity to hear something of Toshio's extensive travels in search of plants and to see some of his outstanding photographs.

The meeting is open to both members and non-members. There will be a charge of £5 for the day, and tickets will be issued on a first-come first-served basis. Full details of the programme and tickets may be obtained from the Group Secretary, Norma McDowall email: secretary@meconopsis.org. Norma will also supply her postal address for sending payment for the ticket(s) which must be in cash or by cheque made payable to "The Meconopsis Group". It is also essential to send a stamped addressed envelope for return of the entry ticket.

Bailey's Blue Poppy Restored

There has been an important re-classification of M. betonicifolia. In a recent article in "The Alpine Gardener", Christopher Grey-Wilson has proposed restoring the name M. baileyi for the plant well known for decades (since 1934) as M. betonicifolia.
For details including a full reference to the article and a downloadable version, see MM. baileyi & betonicifolia reclassification.

Report of the meeting on 31st October, 2009

It was pleasing to see such a large attendance at this meeting at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Many people were long-standing members who have come to all, or almost all, the meetings since the first in 1998. Others, clearly also very enthusiastic, were relative new-comers. There was an excellent range of talks. All were illustrated using Powerpoint.

Mark Watson, Chief Editor of The Flora of Nepal being prepared by the RBGE, gave a stimulating talk on Nepal. His talk ranged over the topography of Nepal, the wide range of plant habitats and how fieldwork for the Flora is carried out. Amongst his plant pictures he included rarely seen Meconopsis simikotensis and M. pinnatifolia.

David Rankin spoke about a possibly to be newly recognised taxon that he found in Wu Meng Shan in NE Yunnan in June. It has likenesses to M. violacea and to recently described M. wilsonii. David gave a detailed account of the discussions concerning his plant that have, and are, taking place. It is clearly the same as that seen by Jamie Taggart in 1995. For a number of years, the latter sold plants raised from seed he collected - under the incorrect name, M. wumengensis. Further taxonomic work is needed.In the meantime David is nick-naming it "Meconopsis X"!

Geoff Hill's talk was about his carefully conducted experiments on seed germination, especially of M. punicea. He concluded that although a current year's seed will give a higher percentage of germination, stored seed will maintain reasonable viability, and ability to germinate, over several years if carefully stored in the fridge.

John Mitchell spoke of his best trip ever - in July from Chengdu in Sichuan to Lhasa in Tibet, concentrating on the Tsangpo Gorge area. One high-light was seeing Meconopsis baileyi in two different locations on the east and west side of the Serkyhem La (SE Tibet). Interestingly they detected distinct differences in the plants in the two locations, only 20km apart.

Evelyn Stevens intimated the two cultivars to be recommended for naming at the next meeting and several others for possible future naming. She also spelt out again our use of the horticultural term, Groups. Finally she explained the procedure for the RHS trial at Harlow Carr for the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) that is currently being started for the big blue poppies - to run from 2010-2013.

The day ended with Ian Christie leading a discussion session. This is to be an on-going feature of our meetings. See full report in the next newsletter. Ian would like material for this session sent to him at: ianchristie@btconnect.com.

Diplomas in Botanical Illustration

Congratulations to two members of The Meconopsis Group, Sharon Bradley and Janet Watson, on graduating in September with Diplomas in Botanical Illustration from the RBGE Edinburgh, both with Distinction. In the final year the students had to complete five paintings on a chosen theme. Sharon chose "Meconopsis other than the big blue poppies". Janet chose poisonous plants, but she is also working on a series of paintings of the big blue poppies for the Biscot (Botanical Images Scotia) exhibition next summer at Gardening Scotland.

Gardening Scotland 2009

The Meconopsis Group participated at Gardening Scotland 2009, Edinburgh from 29th May - 1st June. Big blue poppies featured prominently in a number of the displays in the Floral Marquee. The Meconopsis Group mounted its third display at the Show, yet again meticulously and tastefully assembled by Geoff Hill. Photographs by Geoff and by Evelyn Stevens formed the backdrop, and to the front were large pots of individual cultivars from the Plant Heritage (NCCPG) Collection of Evelyn Stevens.These plants were assessed for awards by the Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee which, as last year, met at the Show. Two further awards, to add to those made in the last few years, were an Award of Merit to M. 'Marit' and a Preliminary Commendation to M. 'Maggie Sharp'. Another cultivar, M. 'P.C. Abildgaard', in the Scottish Rock Garden Club display, received an AM.

There was also a breath-taking "all-on-one-level" exhibit of M. 'Slieve Donard'. This measured 15m x 15m and comprised 150 potted up plants, the pots concealed by a bed of moss. This display was mounted by Jim McKay and friends as a tribute to Rodella Purvis who sadly died in 2008. Rodella Purvis was an acclaimed botanical artist from Edinburgh noted especially for her fine paintings of this cultivar,. The display must surely have greatly increased the awareness and appreciation of the big blue poppies with the gardening public.

Big blue poppies were to be seen on a number of other displays including an outstanding triple display designed by Beryl McNaughton of MacPlants and member of The Meconopis Group. One of the displays commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Caledonian Horticultural Society and another marked the 10th anniversary of Gardening Scotland.

On the Friday there was also the launch of a new book on Meconopsis at the SRGC display. This was "Blue Heaven" by Bill Terry, a Canadian member of The Meconopsis Group. This delightful new book is currently the only one in print devoted solely to Meconopsis. Complimentary copies were presented to the Group's chairman, John Mitchell and to Mr. George Anderson, President of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. Later, a copy was also presented to the Princess Royal, who attended the Show and who stopped to speak at The Meconopsis Group display during her tour of the Show.

Report of the meeting on 28th February, 2009

The 5th AGM of The Meconopsis Group was held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on 28th February. Our chairman, John Mitchell, commented that the Group, now in its 11th year, is in good shape and making excellent progress in achieving its variety of goals. This was reflected in the excellent attendance, the wide range of subject matter in the talks and in the lively discussions amongst members over coffee and during our "picnic" lunchtime. People also took advantage of the opportunity to buy plants from the plant stall.

Margaret and David Thorne were allotted two sessions to tell us in a fine Powerpoint presentation, entitled "The Call of the Wild", of all the Meconopsis they have seen and studied in the course of six trips they have made since 2002 - to Nepal, north India, two to China, Tibet and Bhutan. Downloadable pdf versions are available in the members' area.

From a garden perspective, Alan Furness gave us an excellent talk on growing Meconopsis sherriffii in his garden in the north east of England. Alan is one of only a few gardeners who succeeded (for 17 years, 1988-2005) in growing the beautiful perennial pink Meconopsis sherriffii, which now, even in his skilled hands, is unfortunately no longer in cultivation. It would be wonderful if it became possible for a fresh seed supply from the wild to be introduced. Alan believed that there had only ever been two introductions - by Ludlow and Sherriff (1936) and Ludlow (1949). His original plants probably derived from the second collection.

Professor Adam Curtis of Glasgow University and Alan Elliott, 4th year BSc Horticulture with Plantsmanship student at RBGE, gave two scientific talks. .Adam gave us an encouraging update on his DNA studies in which he is working on differentiating Meconopsis cultivars on the basis of their DNA profiles. Alan talked about his undergraduate project - studies on Meconopsis seed viability and "germinability", on seed morphology as an aid to identifying species and cultivars, and on phylogenetic relationships in the genus.

Four more cultivars, recommended for naming at the last meeting, were confirmed for naming at this meeting. They are M. 'Evelyn', M. 'Inverleith', M.'Louise', and M. 'Harry Bush'.

The day concluded with an introduction by Ian Christie to a discussion series, which we plan to extend at later meetings, into issues raised by members, e.g. problems in cultivation, observations made by members etc. Ian would welcome material for these sessions. Please send this to Ian: ianchristie@btinternet.com .

Meconopsis-rich Gardens
For a directory of gardens in which a variety of Meconopsis are growing, please consult the supplementary page Meconopsis-rich Gardens. Most of these gardens are open to the public and two are in Canada.