Should I Deadhead My Meconopsis?
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Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-11-2005 at 6:35am
My new Meconopsis grandis has just dropped its petals of its first flower. It was a beautiful blue and lasted a whole week what with the cloudy, cool weather we've been having.It still has two more buds. It has some crowns that won't bloom this year. My question is, I'm tempted to leave this one seed pod to see if it will reseed, or do you think that is a bad idea? Plants do reseed readily in my yard, too much so sometimes. I would only let this one pod go. I also don't want to weaken the plant. It looks very happy so far.
My Meconopsis cambrica, the Welsh Poppy, is blooming also, I didn't hear from anyone about its potential for invasivness but I'm only going to let a few seed pods ripen because I know where I can get more seeds. I know two gardens where it has spread some and that was in very challenging places. Is it monocarpic too? The yellow flowers are nice, and it seems to live ok in the dry-in-the-summer shade.
Fern
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: May-14-2005 at 4:34pm
I have seen a wonderful round "bed" of these, it was about 10 feet in diameter. the little old lady who tended them said she just let them go and eventually they filled in the circle--but she had lived there since the 50's so if it took 5 or 50 years, I am not sure!
Carol
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-15-2005 at 7:55pm
Thanks for the reply. I think I will let one pod ripen and let half of the seeds hopefully self sow. I'll take the other half of the seeds and sow them right away in a pot, leave them out all winter, and hope they sprout in the spring. The reason to sow in the pot is I am worried about the sluge eating the seedlings. They do take a bite occasionally out of the big one.
Fern
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
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