RHS Meconopsis Trial Report
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TRIAL REPORT 2010-2013 Big Perennial Blue-Flowered Meconopsis (Papaveraceae) Andrew Mcseveney, Trials Office The Royal Horticultural Society Garden, Wisley, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB RHS BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPY TRIAL, HARLOW CARR TRIAL OF BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPIES (Meconopsis) FOR THE AWARD OF GARDEN MERIT Dr Christopher Grey-Wilson (Chairman, Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee) and Dr Evelyn Stevens (on behalf of The Meconopsis Group). Trials by the RHS have been held traditionally on the Trials Field at Wisley and most of them still are. This would have been an unfortunate site to carry out a trial of the big perennial blue poppies (Meconopsis) as the dry, warm climate undoubtedly would have meant they would probably not have survived, let alone be given Awards of Garden Merit. Therefore it was pleasing when the RHS decided to carry out this trial and to hold it at its most northerly garden, Harlow Carr, in Yorkshire. The trial was set up in 2010 and at its meeting in June 2013 the trial panel decided to give the Award of Garden Merit to ten cultivars. The award to the one and only cultivar already having the award was reconfirmed. This award, the highest accolade to a plant made by the RHS, indicates that it has been judged by an appropriate committee to be of outstanding excellence in the garden. Criteria include distinctiveness, ease of cultivation, hardiness, reliability and floriferousness. BACKGROUND TO THE TRIAL Investigations prior to 1998 indicated that there existed considerable confusion in the correct identity of many of the big perennial blue poppies (Meconopsis) found growing in British gardens, especially in Scotland, Ireland and the north of England. With the prime aim of sorting this out, a study group, The Meconopsis Group, was founded, with its first meeting at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in September 1998. The RBGE has been very supportive of the Group’s activities ever since. People known to be interested in the genus were invited to join the Group, and, if possible, to donate plants for an Identification Trial. Many plants were received and these were planted out, as far as possible, like with like, in a bed in the RBGE’s nursery so that they could be compared morphologically. On this basis, and also taking into consideration provenance and historical details (as far as known), the process of identifying and naming the different plants was begun. Several people with a particular knowledge of the genus were invited to serve on identification and naming committee. The conclusions reached by the committee are then put before the membership at The Meconopsis Group meetings for approval. Most of the big perennial blue poppies in cultivation were found to be sterile clones and therefore it seemed possible and worthwhile to do this work. All the plants were given holding numbers, MG1, 2, 3 etc. Some of the clones were quite readily and quickly identified. After careful observation over a number of years, others were recognised as distinct and many have been given formal cultivar names by The Meconopsis Group. Two views of the trial at Harlow Carr Final Report for Trial No. 1888 – Meconopsis, Big Perennial Blue –Flowered 2010- 2013 RHS BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPY TRIAL, HARLOW CARR Part of the duplicate trial photographed at Holehird Garden The remainder are still only known by their MG numbers. Hopefully, some of these will be named in the not-too-distant future. CLASSIFICATION OF THE PLANTS In order to help with identifying and naming the big perennial blue poppy cultivars, three Groups were established. Each cultivar was to be assigned to a Group (A, B, C below) based on its phenotypic characteristics. However, it was soon found that some do not readily fit into one of these Groups and these are classified under D below (“Stand-alone” cultivars) and there are also species’ cultivars, in this instance Meconopsis grandis cultivars (E). A George Sherriff Group B Infertile Blue Group C Fertile Blue Group D “Stand-alone” cultivars (Note: this category is not an established Group*) E Meconopsis grandis cultivars A Group is a formal category denoting an assemblage of cultivars, individual plants or assemblages of plants on the basis of defined similarity” as defined in the “International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants” (ICNCP). It is important to note that the Groups are more of practical value than of any important taxonomic significance. They have been generally well accepted by the horticultural world and are used currently in the ‘RHS Plant Finder’. Also, it appears that this classification is helpful to gardeners not yet familiar with the plants. With further research over the years, it has become apparent that some cultivars originally placed in Fertile Blue and Infertile Blue Groups, would be better reclassified as “stand alone” cultivars. The Groups and “Stand-alone” categories were used in the RHS’s lay-out of the trial and in the records made. They are defined briefly here: RHS BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPY TRIAL, HARLOW CARR A. GEORGE SHERRIFF GROUP A number (maybe over 20) of sterile clonal cultivars previously known collectively by the invalid name M. grandis GS600 and presumed to have arisen from George Sherriff ’s collection of M. grandis subsp. orientalis seed in eastern Bhutan in 1934, with collection number GS600 (this strictly speaking should be L&S600). They are recognised readily by a combination of characters: i. the emerging rosette of leaves where the leaves tend to be broad and spreading, are suffused with red-purple pigmentation and densely clothed with short hairs (M. ‘Dalemain’, p.22), ii. the broadly elliptic mature leaves, iii. flowering is later than in most cultivars and the flowers may be a pure blue but often have a purplish/mauve cast (M. ‘Dalemain’, p.22) and iv) by the fruit capsules comprising broadly ellipsoid capsule bodies covered densely with short bristles, and styles and stigmas which are not over-large. Examples of the eight clones which have been named are M. ‘Dalemain’, M. ‘Ascreavie’, M. ‘Susan’s Reward’. B INFERTILE BLUE GROUP This Group encompasses the remainder of the long-standing sterile clonal cultivars. Cultivars in this Group are clearly more disparate and not as closely related as those in George Sherriff Group. These long-standing clones arising, as we believe before 1935, cannot have subspecies orientalis in their parentage as the seed of the latter was only collected in 1934: they must be descendants of M. grandis subsp. grandis from Nepal and/or Sikkim. Examples are M. ‘Slieve Donard’, M. ‘Mrs Jebb’. C. FERTILE BLUE GROUP Fertile, seed-raised cultivars. This Group was established to comprise hybrid cultivars that produce viable seeds that will germinate to produce new generations of plants. To date, the most significant is M. ‘Lingholm’. Another which was placed in this Group, and classed as such in the trial, was ‘Mop- head’, but it has become clear that this was not a wise classification and it should really be classed as “stand alone” (D). It produces little or no seed and this does not appear to breed true. D “STAND-ALONE” CULTIVARS. These are cultivars that do not fit readily into A, B or C above. With furthering of our knowledge of the big blue poppies, there has been an increase in the number of cultivars either placed, Part of the National Collection of big perennial blue poppies at The Linns, Dunblane, Perthshire. Final Report for Trial No. 1888 – Meconopsis, Big Perennial Blue –Flowered 2010- 2013 RHS BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPY TRIAL, HARLOW CARR or should be placed, in this category. Examples are M. ‘Keillour’, M. ‘Inverewe’, M. ‘Marit’. E MECONOPSIS GRANDIS CULTIVARS e.g. M. grandis ‘Himal Sky’ As the work of identifying and naming progressed, The Meconopsis Group management committee decided that a trial of the big perennial blue poppies for the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) would be desirable, so an approach was made to the RHS. Their Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee (JRGPC) took up this proposal. Over several years this committee, which judges plants, as exhibition plants, has made 14 awards to Meconopsis as follows: AWARDS OF MERIT (AM), not to be confused with AGM (Award of Garden Merit): ‘P.C. Abildgaard’, ‘Barney’s Blue’, ‘Crewdson Hybrid’, ‘Huntfield’, ‘Jimmy Bayne’, ‘Lingholm’, ‘Marit’ and ‘Mrs Jebb’. PRELIMINARY COMMENDATION (PC): ‘Ascreavie’, ‘Bobby Masterton’, ‘Maggie Sharp’, ‘Willie Duncan’, ‘Mildred’ and ‘Strathspey’. However, it is important to note that the big perennial blue poppies are not really plants for exhibition in pots, so it seemed important to assess them further for their worth in an open garden environment, that is to have them assessed for Awards of Garden Merit (AGMs). THE TRIAL FOR THE AWARD OF GARDEN MERIT (AGM) In due course, a trial for the Award of Garden Merit was staged at the RHS’s garden at Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire, between 2010 and 2013, with the final assessment being made in June 2013. The assessment process For the assessments to be made a panel was formed from members of the RHS’ Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee (JRGPC). The Panel was made up as follows: Mary Randall (Chair), Chris Brickell*, Peter Erskine, Alan Furness, Chris Grey-Wilson*, John Mitchell, John Richards, Early June at The Linns, the peak flowering time for the big blue poppies RHS BIG PERENNIAL BLUE POPPY TRIAL, HARLOW CARR Sandy Leven, Ian Christie*, Geoff Hill*, Beryl McNaughton*, Evelyn Stevens* and Pat Murphy*. Andrew McSeveney is the RHS’s Trials’ Secretary. Those marked with an * are genus Meconopsis specialists. Geoff Hill, Beryl McNaughton, Pat Murphy and Evelyn Stevens were co-opted to advise and help in the assessment of the various entries.