Poppy No Longer Scarce

 

After thirty years propagating matilija poppy, Tree of Life Nursery now has a consistent large inventory of the plant’s finest variety… Romneya ‘White Cloud.’  We have lowered our prices on all sizes of this semi-precious shrub.  Here’s the whole story:

Matilija Poppy has been called the “Queen of California Flowers,” (Mary Elizabeth Parsons, The Wild Flowers of California, 1897).  The large white blooms are the size of a saucer.  The petals look like wrinkled crepe paper, the center is a bright yellow disk.  Some have likened the flower to the appearance of a fried egg.  A solitary bloom is a very fine thing, but a large stand of Matilija in full bloom is a sight to behold!  Hundreds of huge white flowers borne at eye-level on long straight stems, contrasted by attractive blue-green foliage… a real show stopper!

Matilija poppies are only found in a few locations in California.  Within their range, they prefer gravelly soil, sometimes on the sides of stream banks or alongside a road.  Their appearance always seems a surprise, as they are not common.

While easy to grow in the garden, in the nursery, the species (Romneya coulteri and R. trichocalyx) are difficult to propagate.  Seeds will not germinate unless they have experienced the flash heat of wild fire.  At Tree of Life, we ceremoniously burn pine needles across the tops of the freshly sown seed flats.  Germination usually begins within a few days.  Seedlings are tiny and they are vulnerable to the elements.  In short, Romneya is a difficult plant to produce in the nursery, so the supply has always been somewhat low and the prices high.

The best variety is a supposed hybrid between the two species.  Theodore Payne first discovered it in a southern California nursery in 1940.  He recognized the obvious differences.  The selection he made had much larger blooms, attractive lush foliage and a slightly more compact habit.  He knew that this one would make a better garden plant than the common species.  He introduced it as ‘White Cloud’ and first offered it for sale sometime before 1956; the exact details are now lost in history.

Tree of Life Nursery is largely responsible for rescuing Romneya ‘White Cloud’ from oblivion.  The plant was all but lost in California horticulture.  Our associate in the early 1970’s, Art Tyree had worked with Theodore Payne in the 1960’s and knew of a stand of ‘White Cloud’ growing in a private garden in Pasadena.  We obtained permission to secure a few small root cuttings.  (Since ‘White Cloud’ is a cultivar, it must be grown vegetatively.)  Seed would not be suitable and stem cuttings are practically impossible.

From those few cuttings thirty years ago we have maintained the exact clone that Payne had selected almost seventy years ago.  For many years, our root cuttings were scarce and production losses in the nursery were high.  This is a very difficult plant to propagate.  We had to put a higher price on it because of the time and effort needed to produce it. 

(Fortunately, ‘White Cloud’ is very easy to grow in the garden, quite care free.)

We now have large stands of mother plants, which yield thousands of root cuttings every year.  We have improved our propagation techniques to the extent that we do not experience crop losses so severe as in the early years.  Therefore, we are happy to announce that this premium plant now has a more reasonable price tag.  It is currently more in line with other native plants, as far as price is concerned.

The nearly forgotten Queen of our flowers has not lost any of her value; she has simply become more readily available, and the price adjusted accordingly.  We look forward to the day when we will see more and more of her in southern California gardens, as she rightly resumes her title as “Queen of California Flowers.”