682 



MECONOPSIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



MECONOPSIS. 



cultivating them : A piece of ground is 

 prepared by digging in good loam and 

 well-rotted stable manure ; a two-light 

 frame is placed over it, and seedlings are 

 put in about March. As soon as the plants 

 are fairly established the sashes are re- 

 moved (unless the weather is frosty), and 

 throughout the summer the plants are well 

 supplied with water. In the following 

 April and May they will have become 

 large plants, often 2 to 3 ft. in diameter, 

 and are then removed to where they are 

 wanted to flower. This may be readily 

 done without needlessly checking them, 

 as they form so many fibrous roots that a 

 good ball of soil usually adheres to them. 

 They are thus grown on as quickly as 

 possible, being treated like biennials. 

 They should be planted out in a well- 

 drained rock-garden in good soil, with 

 plenty of water in summer, but they must 

 be kept as dry as possible in the winter, 

 as excessive moisture in cold weather soon 

 kills them. Sandstone broken fine should 

 be placed under the leaves, to prevent 

 contact with the damp soil. A piece of 

 glass placed over the leaves in a slant- 

 ing position helps to protect them from 

 moisture. Many plants take three or 

 four years to flower, and some may be 

 kept in store pots for five or six years 

 without showing any tendency to flower, 

 but they are never so fine planted out 

 after being cramped in this way. After 

 flowering they all die. 



M. aculeata is a singularly beautiful 

 plant, with purple petals, like shot silk, 

 which contrast charmingly with the 

 numerous yellow stamens. The flowers 

 are 2 in. across, on stems about 2 ft. high. 



M. cambrica. For the wild garden or 

 wilderness the Welsh Poppy is one of the 

 most charming of plants. It is a cheerful 

 plant in all seasons, and a determined 

 coloniser, making its home of the wall, 

 rock, and the ruin. In many places it 

 grows freely at the bottom of walls, or even 

 in gravel walks if allowed a chance. A 

 plant so easily naturalised needs no special 

 care in the garden, where it often comes 

 up unbidden. 



M. grandis. A newly introduced kind 

 from the mountains of Sikkim, and one 

 of the few true perennials in the genus. 

 This is fortunate, for though it has 

 flowered under grass with Mr. Bulley for 

 two years in succession, it has yielded no 

 seed. It is a plant of tall habit, with un- 

 cut leaves and solitary purple flowers of 

 beautiful glossy texture. 



M. heterophylla. The only kind found 

 in America, where it grows over a wide 

 area but is nowhere abundant, thriving 



best in the light, dry soils of California. 

 It is an annual, and succeeds in this 

 country both as a pot-plant under glass, 

 or in the border during summer, where it 

 flowers and ripens seed freely. It is a 

 variable plant, but mostly reaches 12 to 

 1 8 inches in height, with pale green 

 leaves, deeply cut, and hairy. The flowers, 

 upon long slender stems, are red, copper- 

 coloured, or orange, with a deep maroon 

 blotch in the centre, and a scent of Lily 

 of the Valley. They are more lasting 

 than in other kinds, and useful for cut- 

 ting, coming in June from seed sown in 

 heat early in the year or in the open a 

 little later. Syn., M. crassifolia. 



M. horridula. A little plant found at 

 a great height in the Himalayas, growing 

 as almost stemless tufts of lanceolate 

 leaves, covered densely with prickles ; 

 the short unbranched stems bear solitary 

 bluish-purple flowers about an inch and a 

 half wide. 



M. integrifolia. A new kind, its pale 

 yellow flowers being much admired. The 

 plant grows at a height of ii,oco ft. to 

 15,500 ft. in the mountains of Thibet and 

 S.W. China, where myriads of plants are 

 to be seen bearing flowers which some- 

 times measure 10 inches across. In the 

 size and number of their flowers, however, 

 the plants vary, some being only 3 inches 

 wide, while from 3 to as many as 1 5 per- 

 fect blooms may be open at once. Nor 

 is there any regularity in the size and 

 number of petals, for though mostly 5 in 

 number, there are often more. The plant 

 is a biennial, hardy, and with oval uncut 

 leaves of pale green, about a foot long 

 when fully grown, and more or less 

 covered with soft, silky hairs. The stems 

 vary in height, but the plants flowered in 

 this country were from 12 to 18 inches 

 high, flowering until the first keen frosts. 

 It is a moisture-loving plant, thriving in 

 peat or leafy soil in a half-shady place. 



M. nepalensis has flower-stems 3 to 5 

 ft. high, which are not much branched, the 

 nodding blossoms, borne freely, are 2 to 

 317 in. across, and of a pale yellow. 

 [' M. paniculata. A beautiful Himalayan 

 plant with much-cut foliage and panicles 

 of bright yellow flowers, which come 

 true from the seed ripened sparingly in 

 fine seasons. 



M. principis. A plant first found by 

 Franchet in Thibet ; it comes near M. 

 punicea but is not so large a plant, and 

 its smaller crimson flowers are held erect 

 instead of nodding. 



M. punicea. A fine kind. It comes 

 near integrifolia, and is found grovving 

 with it at a great height in the mountains 



