My Blue Poppy Pictures

          While I was recently strolling the gardens of Europe, my first ever Meconopsis was blooming at home. Before posting my last two posts with the pictures of Kew Gardens, I want to show you my blue poppy flowers.
          Five plants were bought last year, and two of them are blooming now.
Meconopsis sheldonii (label says: 'Deep Blue. Good drainage. 3-4 feet tall. Shade. Early summer'):

          The two blooming plants grow in different places. One is located in my so called Terrace garden, a sunny place with approximately six hours of sun. It's surrounded by other tall plants which partially shelter it from bright light and winds.

          The second blooming plant grows in my so called Accidental bed , a more shady area with about 3 hours of afternoon sun.

          Three other plants from the same batch bought last year are not yet blooming.
           Although the label of my blooming poppies says 'Shade', from my small experience of having Meconopsis I can tell that my plants do like some sun. The plant from the sunny Terrace Garden is taller, bushier and has bigger flowers than the plant from the half-shady Accidental bed.
          Beside Meconopsis sheldonii, I have two other plants, Meconopsis betonicifolia, which were planted earlier, three years ago, and still don't bloom. They spent two years in a shady place and had stunted growth there. After that, I moved them to a spot with several hours of morning sun. They look better now, and are bigger and healthier, but I still wait for them to bloom.

 After reading and hearing about Meconopsis flowers' beauty, I am excited to see them in my own garden. They truly have an exceptionally beautiful blue color and, to my delight, they have already bloomed for more than three weeks.

*

The following information' source: Perennials.com

Meconopsis × sheldonii Blue Himalayan Poppy USDA Zone: 3-9 Blue Himalayan Poppies are one of the most impressive plants for the shade garden. This forms a rosette of hairy leaves, bearing large satiny flowers in an amazing range of shades from true blue to violet purple. Not always easy to please, demanding an evenly moist, rich soil and cool woodland conditions. Plants are not always long lived, typically flowering in the second or third year, setting seed, then dying out. Gardeners in hot and humid summer climates seldom succeed with these plants, yet they are surprisingly tolerant of cold winter conditions. Further details for Meconopsis × sheldonii Optimal Growing Conditions Appearance and Characteristics Sun Exposure   Partial Shade Soil Type   Normal Soil pH   Neutral or   Acid Soil Moisture   Average or   Moist Care Level   Moderate Flower Colour   Deep Blue Blooming Time   Early Summer   Mid Summer Foliage Color   Light Green Plant Uses & Characteristics   Accent: Good Texture/Form   Border   Rabbit Resistant   Massed   Specimen   Woodland Flower Head Size   Large Height    80-100 cm    31-39 inches Spread    30-45 cm    12-18 inches Foot Traffic    None Growth Rate    Slow *

***Copyright 2013 TatyanaS

3 - The Queen's Garden and The Royal Kitchens Garden. Tete-a-Tete With Kew Gardens

Part 3. 

41 photographs.

I loved this part of  The Gardens. 

Kew Palace, the Queen's garden, the Royal Kitchens and their garden.

I love, love, love everything in this garden!

This is the information from the official Kew Gardens' SITE:

History and design

The Queen's Garden was conceived in 1959 by Sir George Taylor, then Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II ten years later. The design involved the recreation of arcades and steps associated with the Dutch House. It also contains several pieces of sculpture including a marble satyr, a venetian well head and five 18th century terms, commissioned by HRH Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1734/5 and considered to be the oldest pieces of sculpture remaining at Kew.

There is also a wrought iron pillar from Hampton Court Palace and a gazebo on a mound. One element is a parterre enclosed in box hedges and standing in the pond in the centre of the parterre is a copy of Verocchio's 'Boy with a Dolphin', the original of which is in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.

Plants

The plants in the Queen's Garden are exclusively those grown in Britain before and during the 17th century. Their labelling differs from Kew's norm, since they include not only today's botanical name and family, but also:-

• The common name in the 17th century
• A virtue, or quotation from a herbal (plant book)
• The author's name and date of publication

Let's read it! Very interesting!

"During the 17th century plants were grown for culinary and medicinal purposes rather than their beauty. They were used in cooking to mask the flavour of tainted meat and strewn either fresh or dry in houses to sweeten the atmosphere in an age when hygiene and cleanliness were not considered important. Flowers were made into nosegays and carried in city streets to disquise unpleasant aromas and ward off the plague.

Some plants were credited with supernatural powers and considered more effective when gathered at certain  times (a particular phase of the moon) or places (a graveyard).

These uses of 300 years ago may amuse us today but old herbal remedies may still be effective and culinary herbs are gaining in popularity. Pot-pourri is a modern counterpart to thr strewing herbs and nosegays are still carried by judges in procession at the beginning of the judicial year."

Inside the Kew Palace

Rabbits...

 The Royal Kitchens' gardens:

 Inside the Royal Kitchens' garden shed:

Inside the Royal Kitchens:

Some information about the Royal Kitchens can be found  HERE  
My previous posts about the Kew Gardens are:
Part 1 - Walled Garden and Around
Woodland, Rock Gardens and Some More

***Copyright 2013 TatyanaS