Crewsdon Hybrid
Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’
Infertile Blue Group MG No 15
Awards: PC (2005), AM (2008)
Named by Jack Drake, 1957. Registered by The Meconopsis Group, 2000.
A mature leaf with a long petiole and regular teeth along the margin.
Young fruit capsule covered in bristles.
Open, cup-shaped flower with frilly petals, slightly overlapping at the base.
Young emerging leaves with a brownish tinge.
Mature basal green leaves.
Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’ is an old established hybrid, which arose by chance in 1939 in the garden of Cecily Crewdson, who lived at Helme Lodge, in Kendal, Cumbria. It is believed that M. baileyi (M. betonicifolia of horticulture) was the seed parent while the pollen came from M. grandis subsp. grandis. This is because M. Crewdson hybrid is very different from the M. ×sheldonii hybrids, where the role of these two species is reversed. Both species were growing in the garden at the time.
The first plants arising from the cross were fertile and were sold as M. ‘Crewdson Hybrids’ from Jack Drake’s nursery at Inshriach until 1959, when it became sterile and was then propagated by division. The plant is shorter than many Meconopsis hybrids.
Description
This cultivar has deep blue, open, cup-shaped flowers in May to June. They are slightly smaller than the flowers of other hybrids. The oval to elliptical petals have frilly edges and are slightly overlapping at the base.
The emerging leaves have a brownish tinge with some red-purple pigmentation. The margins have regular serrate-dentate teeth. The mature foliage is green with narrow elliptical blades on long petioles. The leaf margins have regular shallow teeth.
The fruit capsule is a narrow ellipsoidal shape and is covered with dense, spreading bristles. The stigma is short and swollen.
A cultivar with similar features is Meconopsis ‘Mrs Jebb’, which may have been selected from seedlings when M. ’Crewdson Hybrid’ was still fertile.
Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’ is easily available from specialist nurseries.
Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’ at Branklyn garden.
Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’ at Harlow Carr garden.