Meconopsis cambrica Double Mixed - Blue Poppy

We offer an exclusive and rare mix of Welsh Poppies, also known as Meconopsis cambrica Double Mixed, with silky yellow, orange, and red pompon flowers. This perennial is a sturdy and hardy plant, displaying beautiful, dark green, and dissected foliage. This novelty is truly captivating and will brighten up semi-shaded borders from spring to autumn. Occasionally, a strange flower appears in the sowing, as if from another place.

Meconopsis cambrica belongs to the Papaveraceae family. It is a species native to western Europe, specifically the Atlantic coast, and regions around the Bay of Biscay, Wales, and Ireland. It is also found in France, in the Pyrenees, in damp woodlands. 'Double Mixed' is a selection of double-flowered plants with very cheerful colours. It is a perennial plant that forms a taproot from which a small, more or less dense tuft of deeply cut, dark green, hairy leaves emerges at the collar. The plant reaches a height of 40cm (16in) when in flower and has a diameter of 30cm (12in). The flowering period is impressive. It blooms from May until October, or even November if there is no frost, when the trees are red and lose their leaves. The poppy-like double flowers come in colours ranging from golden yellow to bright red, with a silky texture that reflects light well. They are carried by long, slender peduncles. They measure 3 to 5cm (1 to 2in) in diameter. The basal leaves are compound, elliptical to pinnatisect, deep green on the upper surface, bluish on the underside, and pubescent. They measure 10 to 20cm (4 to 8in) long. The upper leaves are similar but have shorter petioles. The fruit is a glabrous capsule that contains a large number of small black seeds.

In this 'Double Mix' selection, Meconopsis cambrica equals the originality and delicate beauty of the larger poppies. These flowers prove to be bright and tender in semi-shaded borders, where this species usually thrives. Its light appearance makes it easy to associate with other plants in country borders. Difficult to maintain in continuous masses in a border, it will be best to let it emerge wherever it pleases, amidst ferns, among heucheras, bleeding hearts, or lungworts in a woodland scene. It also has a nice effect in a rockery, far from fragile alpine plants, mixed with spring bulbs (Ipheion uniflorum, Scilla biflora), with summer-flowering ground cover perennials such as Campanula portenschlagiana or Geranium cinereum, with other low plants with late bloom such as Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, with cerulean blue flowers on its reddening leaves, or even with low conifers such as Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chips'.

The origin of the name of this plant is not surprising: Meconopsis comes from the Greek Mècaun, which means "poppy," and opsis, "appearance," alluding to its strong resemblance to poppies of the genus Papaver.