Thursday, June 16, 2016

My favourite Poppy the Romneya Coulteri...

The Romneya Coulteri poppy is a show stopper.
Its flower reminds me of a Georgia O'Keefe painting.


Crepe like pure white petals with a yellow centre 
which is why some people refer to this as the fried egg plant.


It grows in poor soil and loves a gravel bed...which is where we have planted it in our Humble Bungalow Garden...they do not transplant well, if at all...
I have heard of no one who was able to grow one by digging up a stem or a root division...they are just plain finicky.

Years ago when Royal Roads hosted the annual Garden and Flower Show I ordered one of these "hard to grow" seedlings from The Duncan Specialty Nursery which unfortunately is no longer in business.


It took 3 years to get my plant as they had trouble meeting the demands for this plant. I have seen a few of these plants for sale at The Demitasse in Oak Bay but I think they get snapped up pretty quickly...
so if you are interested you may have to pre-order one from your local nursery or garden centre and be patient and wait.


It has been happily blooming every summer and it asks very little in the way of TLC or ongoing maintenance.


I have never tried to cut one of these delicate flowers for indoors
as I feel that they would wilt almost immediately.

 Beautiful flowers continue to inspire me to be a better gardener,
to experiment with new and different varieties of plants
to rearrange the beds once in awhile 
to keep The Humble Bungalow Garden interesting and exciting.

Gardening is a very rich and rewarding hobby...
one gets fresh air, exercise, and there is an element of creativity involved.
Reading garden books in the off season allows me to plan and dream of the changes that I might consider making in the garden...
as any consummate gardener knows
a garden is NEVER finished!

I like to think of gardening as "painting with flowers and plants."

Do you enjoy pottering about in the garden?
Do you have a favourite flower?


Don't forget to enter the scarf giveaway if you have not yet done so...see the previous post and Good Luck!

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos. Put me in mind of a Georgia O Keefe painting. Mary

thepoutingpensioner said...

Amazing flower photos as always, Leslie, they must be your specialty.

Deborah Montgomery said...

What a beautiful flower, and stunning photography. No, I'm not a gardener, but love flowers . . .

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the plant identification. I have recently relocated to Victoria and have been wondering about the names of several plants - this one among them. Another addition for my wish list. :)

No Sacrifice Bags said...

Leslie you have a way of making me actually like yellow in a garden. I don't know why; but I dislike yellow flowers in my garden.
I had a problem trying to figure out google + and ended up changing my blog name and address. Not that I have anything to post; but it's now hermesmerized-theduchessofh.blogspot.ca

Unknown said...

Beautiful. intoxicating. Almost obscene.
I struggle to grow any poppies here. I am on the prairie, tundra.
I have very very non-porous clay.
We add peet moss, sand, compost and it's helped some.
So I love to see pictures of what you grow.
My peonies where spectacular this year!

Patricia said...

What a fantastic and beautiful poppy, one I have never seen. Yes, it is very like a Georgia O'Keefe painting. I love her work. I love the garden but I am not very skilled at it; I admire your gardening gift very much.

Stephen Andrew said...

What a fabulous little flower! It really does look like a fried egg! It reminds me a bit of one of my earliest peonies "Krinkled White". Love those crepe paper petals

Pondside said...

I have a large clump of these in the back corner of the garden - aside from two rhodos they are really all we inherited with the house. I am going to try to transplant some roots in the fall, and again in late winter or very early spring, just to see if I can get them going somewhere else. I notice them in front of houses in our neighbourhood, so perhaps the deer don't like them!!!

Rosie said...

Your golden and white poppy is stunning! I don't think I've seen one before. Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. I'm not really a gardener, although I do think when I have more time it's something I'd enjoy. I loved to grow things when I was young. My mum was a keen gardener and I always had my own vegetable patch! I certainly appreciate beautiful gardens such as yours, so maybe one day ....:)
Rosie

Anonymous said...

Love this beautiful poppy- I adore yellow flowers!
Hostess, I deeply admire your garden skills and knowledge-I like flowers and gardens very much-my mother is and granny was, really good. Me- I am sort of plant-serial killer,it is the sadly truth
Dottoressa

Madame Là-bas said...

Such a beautiful and unusual flower!

La Contessa said...

I HAVE TRIED THREE Times to grow this FLOWER.........NO LUCK!
IT IS BEAUTIFUL.......they called them FRIED EGGS down HERE!

Poppy B. said...

HARRUMPH. I thought *I* was your favorite poppy!

Anonymous said...

Apologies hostess I don't always read your text, often just heading and a scroll through the photos. I popped back for another look at the poppies and see your opening comment refers to Georgia O keefe which makes my comment seem a little silly. However if can overlook my failure to read your every word, it shows you are not alone in seeing the similarity.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Great minds think alike!

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

This plant requires such little and gives so much...I feel fortunate that it grew after planting as it is terribly fussy...no thanks to me at all!

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

We do not need to be gardeners to appreciate beautiful blooms...

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Welcome to Victoria! There are few very active garden groups...the Victoria Horticultural Society and The Hardy Plant Group are two you may be interested in attending...they welcome new members and the plant sale tables are a fabulous way to acquire a few of the more exotic plants.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Oh I will have to see if my link to your blog still works...thank you for the heads up.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

I used to have a book called "right plant right place" it was helpful when we started planting here in our garden...we have lots of clay too...but fortunately roses love clay and moisture!
Good to hear that your peonies were spectacular.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

We all have different gifts and talents...I just happen to love flowers so I decided early on to plant a garden so that I could pick flowers for inside our home.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Peonies are so lovely...I am imagining a vase full of those crinkly white blooms.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

The deer have not nibbled mine at all...you may need to take cuttings and try some root hormone and grow them in a cloche or greenhouse as in my experience they do not like their roots disturbed...but it is worth a try! You may have better luck than I did..fingers crossed.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

You never know Rosie...we need to keep our minds open and you may decide gardening is something that you want to try your hand at in the future.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Oh my Dottoressa that sounds like a book title...Plant Serial Killer!
Could be a best seller!

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Oh my...I just read about your new gravel paths and perhaps you might dedicate a gravel area for this plant and try again?

Margie from Toronto said...

I have never seen this flower before now - how stunning!

Sandra Sallin said...

I was looking through my emails and came upon onr of your blogs. It was titled "The Writing's on the Wall...perhaps." I read it an panicked. Please don't leave. I don't know what Google friends has to do with people reading your blog. But fagget about them. We would all miss your writings. Love reading about your life even if you think it's boring. I always enjoy what you write. You live in a diferenet world and I find it very soothing and comforting. I love your walks. I loved the professional makeup they put on you. What happened to that adventure. You looked so good and not over makeup. Anyway I has happy to see that the post was dated January and you're still here. Thank goodness.