Well for a start don't bother winter sowing, sticking it in the fridge or anything fancy. This seed is fresh and won't need it. i have just germinated Meconopsis regia from Plant World, which i bought a few weeks ago. In Britain a preferred method is to germianate in autumn.
I have just found these pages from an old web page of mine(stored on disc - keep meaning to revamp it and stick it back on the net)
To grow from seed I sow in early spring on the surface of peat and grit compost. They are kept cool (under 70 degrees Centigrade) and in the shade. I keep the moisture level up by hand misting daily. Under these conditions I would expect most to germinate in 2 to 3 weeks. They should be pricked out early. The stage after germination is the most critical, they may damp off and fungicide is apt to concentrate in the leaf hairs and kill the seedlings. It would appear that when they are very young, perhaps at the one true leaf stage they are very sensitive to night time temperatures. Night temperatures over about 16º Centigrade (60º Fahrenheit) will kill them and it is probably this and not damping off that causes most of the casualties.
Fortunately in the UK we can sow in autumn and overwinter as small seedlings. This may make it easier to keep nighttime temperatures below the critical level.
Meconopsis betonicifolia is the most common but Meconopsis grandis is superior, larger and bluer flowers. However M. grandis is not as tolerant of dry air.
Hope that helps
P.S. Never pinch out the first buds of the blue poppies. That idea is a load of nonesense.

Kate, too funny. I have a tentative order written up from browsing Plant World catalog last night and m. villosa is on it.

My method of meconopsis from seed this time of year is different from the very experienced grower above, but I do my germinating outdoors so as not to worry about sterile medium, damp off, and it's worked well for betonicifolia, grandis, Lingholm. I don't have a lot of indoor seed starting room, and no greenhouse.

About a month from now, I'll prepare pots with drainage holes with any well draining potting soil, tamping the mix down lightly. Sprinkle seed, cover with a light layer of chick grit and sit outside in an exposed position on my deck. Or, if I'm using fine aquarium gravel that day instead of grit, I'll prepare the pot, add a layer of gravel, then add seed last and give pot a spray of water so seed makes soil contact. The layer of grit or gravel prevents a crust from forming if we get a drying E wind, and keeps the seed from being moved around in a gully washer rain. You may have to place a bit of wire fencing over the pots to keep foraging birds from disturbing them.

Seedlings will appear late winter, to pot individually I will tip out the entire contents and gently untange them.

This is my version of plant like the plant would plant, only our dry late summer/early fall results in only a few self sown seedlings in my garden....I get reliable germination this way.

Kate, are you still with us? I ordered m. villosa, then thought today to check my copy of The Explorers Garden, Hinkley, where he discusses several of the meconopsis including propagation notes -

While I haven't had a year where I've been disappointed in germination, I see he's sowing earlier than I am...I think you'll want to sow your seeds as soon as they arrive.

"We sow our seed at Heronswood in large flats, generally on the day we harvest the seed in midsummer" (! this surprised me, I've been holding seed 4 months or so) "And will have full germination in the flats the following spring, after exposure to the rigors of winter weather. The seedlings are pricked out and transplanted when sufficiently large to handle the shock of transplanting, and they are treated with sufficient water and food during the first growing season. By autumn, a large crown develops on the seedlings, and at this stage they should be set out into the garden."

I don't find the seedlings especially fragile here close to the ocean, haven't lost any to potting up or transplanting yet :)

There is maybe a problem with sowing as above. My seed which is outside but under cover has already germinated I now have to watch the weather cause a hard frost will wipe out the seedlings. If a frost is likely then i take them under cover and keep them cold but just frost free. They remain as very small crowns over winter and then surge into growth in spring. The trick is to get plants with an extra start in spring that will produce good multi crowned plants by the following winter.
If you are sowing a lot then some will killed by frost by early sowing outside but because it is basically "wild specie seed" some seed will not naturally germinate until spring. The problem with that is that spring sown plants may not have reached a mature enough stage to survive increased night time temperatures. Also I do find that spring sown plants often just have a single crown at the end of the first season. The following year this single crown flowers but then dies off.
If you can manage it then I would opt for autumn germiantion which provides 18months between sowing and first flowering. However it generally produces multiple crowned plants that are likely to survive the first flowering. A lot of blue poppies that are sold as plants in the UK are single crowned plants and I can tell that they will not last longer than afew months - but the buyers will think it is because they are difficult and that it was their fault.
Winter stratification may be useful for jump starting old seed but for fresh seed just is not needed. Fresh seed should literally germinate like mustard and cress given the correct temperature. If a seed catalogue says it is difficult to germinate then avoid like the plague cause they are just covering up the fact that their seed is ancient.

Geoff, I think possibly the discrepancy just proves there is more than one way to germinate meconopsis...although I think of our climates as being so similar.

Sowing and placing the seed pots outdoors here in late autumn/early winter does result in meconopsis seedlings coming up like cress, no matter how determined I am to sow that next flat with a lighter hand. I don't lose seedlings to light snow or frost, they are quite cold tolerant when sown exposed to the elements, grow substantial root systems and bloom their second year from seed so approx. 15 months old.

And here, we don't argue with Dan (Hinkley)...I would be about as likely to enter into debate with him as you would be with Gertrude Jekyll :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Daniel Hinkley

I have seen meconopsis seedlings wiped out by frost and I have spoken to nurserymen who have to resow because of frost. If you have a small packet of seed then you cannot afford to lose such a large proportion of your seed.
Despite what you say about Dan Hinkley he does repeat the old wife's tale about removing the first flower buds. My experience leads me to agree with the growers who say that this is completely pointless.

Well I started mine from seed that I kept in the refrigerator all winter. There was some damping off as they were raised in the greenhouse. No different than any other poppy. The survivors grew fine and healthy. They were spring planted in the garden and have lived in my yard in two locations for five years. I tried seed from the nursery which didn't do well the first time. Next I bought a plant, harvested the seed from it's one and only bloom and went from there. I see no difference between the blue poppy and any other perennial poppy other than they do not seem to self seed and multiply fast in my climate.

I am just dying to start some of all kinds of the Meconopsis in all colors if anyone could share some.
Sunny

How cold was it when you lost your seedlings, Geoff? Mine, sown in September, have been through the recent freezes without problem. M. villosa, M. napaulensis, and some blue hybrids. They are kept close to the house but the soil did freeze hard several times.

I cannot rememember now but it was later than this. I rememember that i also lost some Morina longifolia. I had foolishly sown them in autumn thinking they needed a period of cold to germinate. We had a very mild spell that year just before Christmas, which made them germinate followed by hard frost lasting at least a week. I was grumbling about it to a grower and he said that was nothing, he had lost several hundred pans of seedling and was having to resow.
The toughest has been the red Meconopsis, M. punicea. I sowed that as soon as I got it, which was the advice and it germinated in mid winter after some frost. Before i could move them the whole pan got frozen solid so I left them. they seemed to come through it unscathed. Mind you the seed was sent to me from Alaska - I think they are tough out there!
I am not taking any chances this year. I moved all pans onto the garage windowsill where it is cold but above freezing. According to the forecast i will move them between there and the greenhouse. I think it will be worth the effort if i can get the headstart on spring sowings that this gives me.

I would love to grow the Meconopsis. I have tried many times. From seed and the plant. Plant died and the seeds never came up.
What would be the best way to grow them and where? I would love to see this poppy flower just one time. To all who can help Thank you :O)