Himalayan Blue Poppies

I don’t think they are easy to grow butI love them too.

We will go to the Himalayan gardens at Grewelthorpe to see their display soon.

I have tried unsuccessfully to grow Himalayan Poppies - from seed and plug. The nearest I get to seeing them is either in our Botanical Gardens or a wonderful quarry garden on the outskirts of the city. On both sites, they are fickle and don’t grow in great numbers if they put in an appearance at all, but oh they do look wonderful.

I haven’t had any success either. I wish I could.

My friend and I both tried years ago but no success at all.
They are so lovely, there must be a secret as you can see them in National Trust gardens but they keep that secret to themselves.

No, it won’t grow for me, but I’m trying the Lingholm variety this year, which has the RHS garden merit award, and is allegedly much less fussy. We will see.

A group of us tried them to no avail.

They need acid soil. I can’t grow them either.

Another one here who failed miserably. I'm on slightly alkaline clay so tried growing them in a huge tub filled with ericaceous compost years ago, but they didn't like that either.

I remember that you had to put the seeds in the freezer for a period before sowing them, which seemed a bit extreme, but that being so, they still didn’t grow. I have been looking at the photos I took at the quarry in June 2021 (sadly GN won’t download photos from my big camera) and at the Botanical Gardens. Different conditions at both sites and the Botanical gardens plants had the edge for colour and shape, but the quarry was a much better setting for them.

The best ones I’ve seen are growing in a Scottish National Trust garden. I think they have to be grown in a situation that best replicates a Himalayan hillside.

I planted one a few years ago and it never fails to appear. I have acid soil which they prefer.

My husband grew them many years ago from seed. He was told to put the seeds in the freezer for a few days and then he brought them on in the greenhouse. This was the only time he managed to grow them . He has tried again a few times but no success. He must have been lucky the first time as I know they are hard to grow. We live in Central Scotland

The only blue flower I have managed is the Cerinthe sp. the foliage is a gratifying silver and there are drooping bunches of blue/purple blossom. Mine are flowering at the moment.

Cerinthe loves my garden and spreads rather too well. I pull up loads of self sown seedlings, but do leave several patches as the bees absolutely adore it.

I think that they need acid soil for sure. But other than that because I grow on chalk I haven’t really looked into them.

Ask those who do grow them successfully what their soil type is and if they live in a wetter part of the U.K. I.e. west

I have Cerinthe major all over my garden as it’s an enthusiastic self seeder. Loks lovely in a blue glass vase with the lime green of Euphorbia.

Himalayan poppies need free draining soil in a semi woodland environment. They must never dry out or become waterlogged. Like hydrangeas they won’t have a clear blue colour unless the soil is acidic.

Stratification (putting the seeds in the freezer) mimics winter and hopefully encourages germination.

I’m tempted to have another go now. 😂

We tried years ago...
No luck.

Thank you all for your replies. I am going to persevere and maybe try seeds next year. At the moment I have a few plants in pots but will see if they will flower.

I know this probably won't be much help to you, but they do grow quite well at various botanic gardens here in Scotland. There's one in particular - Dawyck Botanic Garden near Peebles - which has swathes of them in the late spring/early summer, and it's a beautiful sight.

I think you have the perfect climate and soil for them in Scotland, ViceVersa.

As Beth Chatto would have said, ‘Right plant, right place!’