Did you start off as a seedling or a full grown plant? Many of the blue poppies are monocarpic... but if you have never sen any flowers sounds a little odd!

Is it in sun or shade, and what's the soil type? Friend of mine grows his successfully in light and airy woodland, on naturally acid soil, cool conditions. Worthy

Hi Moon growe and Worthy, it was purchased as a plant,it is in very moist light soil and gets plenty of sunshine, under normal circumstances I would have said its in an ideal position. I will treat the area around the plant to make the soil more acidic. It`s a large well established plant but if it doesn`t flower this year it will go to the nusery at the top of the garden. Thanks to both of you for your advice.

they grow extremely well in Scotland due to the cooler conditions. Not so good in my garden as too dry in summer. Transplanting it to a new location now might give it a flowering chance maybe?

That's a god point Bampy they don't like the heat - where do you live Flowermanx?

I saw it on the telly, there is a place in Scotland where they grow in drifts, cannot remember where but what an amazing & unforgetable sight. Obviously planted initially I would imagine & maybe self seeding from there on perhaps?
Mec Betonicifolia at a guess ( think that's how you spell it )
I grow pleione orchids under shade so I might get a Mec Bet plant & give it a whirl.

Bampy your are probably thinking of Inverewe Gardens and they are a spectacular sight!

Thanks again, you have rubbed more salt into the wound. I live in Derbyshire. My wife says she will not move to Scotland just to get a poppy to flower, thats understandable although a little selfish. So I will give it one more year then if its is not playing the game I will transplant it to the coolest part of the garden. Thanks again to you all.

When you think that mecanopsis come from the foothills of the Himalayas they are not going to like hot dry conditions. Hence the north west coast of Scotland is ideal for them. A lot of the 'alpine' plants grow better in Scotland.

thanks MG, I'll see if Inverewe gardens is on youtube or Flickr photo's, would be nice to see these flowers again. Just saw on youtube how Meconopsis is becoming scarce due to over harvesting for medicinal purposes????
I love hill walking Flowermanx but would'nt move to Scotland either for the pleasure of it LOL. good luck with your Mec Bet.

Yes Bampy there is serious over harvesting of meconopsis for medicinal purposes. The Chinese & Tibetans firmly believe in its healing properties.

if I thought I had unwittingly contributed to the decline of any plant by way of seed/bulb/plant purchase I would be upset with myself. All the pleione orchids I have are nursery raised & I dont buy species as these too are fast disappearing into collectors hands. The exception is the very easy Formosana which are the easiest to grow therefore very prolific.

Bampy all the 'ordinary' mec's on sale in the UK are bred and grown in either the UK by knowledgeable plants men and women or in Holland by the big nurseries. If you see a mec. for sale at a very high price that you have never heard of before it has possibly come from China/Tibet but could still be a new cross made in the UK.

I tried a pkt of T&M mec-bet seeds some years ago & I remember nothing happened, I would like to try again, all this talk of the blue poppy MG, better do abit of reading up first I think !!