About the Book
Blue Heaven: Encounters with the Blue Poppy tells the story of the enchanting Himalayan Blue Poppy. It begins in 1924 in Tibet, where the renowned plant explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward came upon “a stream of blue poppies, dazzling as sapphires in the pale light.” Soon the blue poppy was introduced to cultivation and proved challenging, stubborn, even believed to be impossible to grow.
In Blue Heaven, Bill Terry—a leading North American authority on Asiatic poppies—debunks this myth, relating his own encounters with the blue poppy and showing how, given a suitable climate, a patient and persistent gardener can raise this most alluring of perennial plants. Gorgeous photographs accompany the text throughout, leading to a visually stunning collection of images and stories, illuminating this rare and precious flower.
Reviews
“An irresistible book. Bill Terry’s ardent account of the fabled Blue Poppy is elegant, humorous, and bracingly practical-a master class in gardening, the record of a 40-year passion, a chronicle of other gardeners and plant hunters equally possessed. Author and subject are a match made in heaven. I loved the book all the way to the end.”—Elizabeth Hay, author of Late Nights on Air , winner of the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize
“With wit and erudition, author Bill Terry examines the world of the fabled Himalayan Blue Poppy and its relatives. Ranging from the slopes of the high Himalayas through the gardens of contemporary poppy lovers, Terry-himself an accomplished Meconopsis grower-also provides clear guidelines for the successful cultivation and propagation of these notoriously temperamental beauties. But buyer beware! Meconopsis obsession may ensue.”—Des Kennedy, author of An Ecology of Enchantment: A Year in the Life of a Garden