It’s no secret, blue is my signature color. It’s in my logo, my wardrobe, my eyes - we even call my living room “The Blue Room.” And every year I make sure to catch the Blue Poppies at Longwood Gardens, my local-yet-world-renowned botanical garden. This bloom is usually in early to mid-March, and only lasts for about 10 days. This year, like magic, they were in glorious form for my first community event, an Art Walk on April 1st. We spent quite a bit of time with these flowers, and I left feeling so inspired to take my floral paintings to the next level. I’d like to share a bit about these particular poppies, why they are so special, and why they are so special to me.

Blue Poppies are native to the high altitudes of the Himalayan Mountains. They are not naturally occurring anywhere else, and for a long time they were considered somewhat of a flower of legend. Surely they were a fanciful exaggeration, a tall floral tale impacted by the nature of oral tradition and the tendency of poets to hold their heads in the clouds. After decades of failed attempts to successfully cultivate this flower elsewhere, seeds brought back to England by Frank Kingdon-Ward on his 5th blue poppy seed collecting expedition in 1925 finally produced viable flowers.

“The flowers flutter out from amongst the sea-green leaves like blue-and-gold butterflies.” ~ Frank Kingdon-Ward

This plant continues to this day to be notoriously difficult to cultivate outside of its native habitat, and will only grow in specific cool, moist climates.

I feel so fortunate to be able to view them with my own eyes in such quantities every year.

“Most gardeners speak of the Blue Poppy with a sigh, in the past tense, or in the future with a wary sense of hope. Never the present.”

~ Bill Terry, *Blue Heaven: Encounters With the Blue Poppy.*

Okay, so in addition to their color, their rarity, and their inspiration to gardeners and poets alike, I have a special affinity for these blue blooms. Back in March of 2019, I brought my youngest daughter to her 2-month old checkup. I knew she was small, but my oldest was small at that age too. I came into the appointment with mild concerns, but I was floored by the doctor’s response. My daughter was labeled with “Failure to Thrive,” a term that absolutely needs to change for the mental health of parents and caregivers everywhere. I started spiraling. I ended up driving straight from our doctor’s appointment to Longwood Gardens to walk around with her and see if I could figure out what to do. It being cold, I found myself strolling through their Conservatory and came across the Blue Poppies. It was like something out of a dream, the sun shining from behind them and illuminating their thin petals with an ethereal blue glow. I read more about these surprising flowers. Beautiful, delicate, particular, difficult to grow. And yet there they were, in force. Stopping me in my tracks and crashing over me with a wave of calm, their thin, spikey stems stretching up and supporting these beautiful bursts of color and texture.

Our Art Walk Pause Spot 2023

Pause Spot With My Little One 2019

We had our own difficult journey to growth ahead. It turns out that day was the beginning of an extreme GERD diagnosis that baffled our medical team and tested my sanity for over a year. But we made it through. She and I both. And when I go and visit these flowers every year, that grounding sensation returns to fill me with a joyful calm. They leave me feeling thankful and restored, and this year they left me feeling inspired. I kept sketching them at lunch, and I have a feeling that these blue poppies will be joining the ranks of my floral paintings before long.

Blue Poppies On a Particularly Tough Day in 2019

Blue Poppies

“The flowers flutter out from amongst the sea-green leaves like blue-and-gold butterflies.” ~ Frank Kingdon-Ward

Playing With Pattern