The "A True Blue Spectacle" Story

It was an ordinary day.  My posts in the recent past dealt with the grounds, buildings and plantings of Longwood Gardens in Kenneth Square, Pennsylvania.  It was on July 20, 1906 that Pierre du Pont purchased the farm that was largely covered with woodland.  His reason for the purchase was to prevent the 1,077 acres of forest from being destroyed.  Little did he know that his purchase and future preservation of the land would lead to the beautiful grounds that are now known as Longwood Gardens.  

On over 4 acres of that land now stands the Longwood Gardens Conser- vatory which is one of the world's greatest greenhouses.  Carol and I made a recent visit to the gardens to see thousands of orchids that are being featured until the end of this month.  Although they are an outstanding part of the Conservatory, the hit of the show had to have been the simple Blue Poppy.  I had never seen anything quite as beautiful as this simple flower.  As we meandered throughout the 4 acres of greenhouses, looking at the more than 11,000 different types of plants and trees, we came to a very small part of the display that was closed to the public as they finishing the plantings they were doing.  

I took a look and saw these beautiful blue flowers that they were planting.  About an hour later Carol and I passed the same location once again and there, in front of the same bed of blue flowers, were a dozen or more people with their cameras and tripods capturing memories of the Blue Poppy.  Wow, just gorgeous!  I waited my turn until I could also take a few photographs.  Just standing in front of the 15 foot long bed of Blue Poppies seemed to make the entire Conservatory come alive with color.  They were so blue that they looked surreal; coloring that looked as if it had been painted on the flowers with a brush.  Neither Carol nor I had ever seen this species of flower before in our lives. After returning home I downloaded my photos onto my computer and had another chance to see the glorious True Blue Spectacle.  A few notes about the flower:

1. It is the National Flower of Bhutan.
2. Meconopsis (flowers name) is a genus within the Papaveraceae or poppy family. 
3. Native to the high elevations of the Himalayan Mountains.
4. They thrive in northern regions of the US, Europe as well as Canada.
5. Blooms are on average 4 inches in diameter.
6. The blue color may change slightly based on the stress the plant may suffer.
7. Longwood Gardens forces the flower to bloom in March each year.
8. If visiting Longwood Gardens, you can find the poppy in the Nectarine House and Garden Path through the month of March.
9. Blue Poppies do not produce opium.
10. First seen by Westerners in the 19th century.
11. The plant usually grows above 10,000 feet, so the feat of growing in in the Longwood Gardens is quite a feat.
12. It is said that seeing the bloom is like being transported into the color-skewed Land of Oz.

So, just how does Longwood Gardens force the poppy to bloom in March.  They pot them in a free-draining soil mix, place then in a darkened cooler and keep them at 34 degrees until early January.  The flowers are fooled into thinking they have gone through a winter.  They are then potted and brought into a cool greenhouse where temperatures are 45 to 55 degrees.  The blooms this year have more purple on them than is wanted, but that was caused by the higher temperatures that were needed in the greenhouse to melt the snow on the roof of the greenhouse this winter.  Well, I hope my photos have inspired you.  I have a few new screensaver photos to go with all the beach shots I have. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.