Lupine - Lupinus species - How to grow Lupines

The Lupine in one of our Iris beds is in full bloom, and it is indeed magical. While not fragrant like many of the Irises, it is a structural entity in the garden, even when not in bloom. The lupine is also a member of the Pea family, Fabaceae, which makes it useful as a cover crop, as forage and also as a companion plant to be intercropped with cucumbers, squash, broccoli, spinach and others.

The flowering or horticultural Lupine is a perennial plant, although among the almost three hundred species there are a few outlying woody trees and shrubs. Many treat Lupine as a biennial because they seem to die out after flowering the second year. Some varieties are more reliably perennial than others, so look for that when purchasing. Lupines do best in full sun, in well-drained average fertility soil. One can start seed (my preferred method) or you can find them at the better nurseries in pots for sale usually in spring.

Again depending on the species and variety, the flower color can range from yellow to blue, salmon pink to purple and almost red. Most of the types available as horticultural specimens are in the cooler range of purple to violet. The height is in the two-and-a-half to three-foot range when in flower, with multiple flower spikes emerging over a ten day to two-week period. Lupine flowers are not the best cut-flowers, but I have found if you cut them when no more than a third of the flowers have popped open (they open from the bottom of the flower working upwards), then they will last for several days in the vase. They are an unbelievably striking focal point in a large vase with just some fern leaves around the bottom.

The genus name Lupine comes from the root word lupinus, Latin for wolf. Lupine as an adjective also means savage, ravenous and predatory, all connected with the wolf. This may have something to do with the propensity for some species to become invasive, as on the South Island of New Zealand where L. polyphullus has covered stream banks and roadsides. The native Bluebonnet in Texas is a Lupine species L. texensis, but of course its predominance is welcome there as part of the spring display and indeed a deserving focus of festivals, tours and other events.

Easily started from seed, it is best to start lupine seeds indoors in late winter, allowing them to grow to a nice sized plant before setting out in spring. They prefer good garden loam, a sunny location and adequate moisture while growing. After they have flowered, they tend to go dormant and therefore don't need the rainfall that a vital plant would. That being said, by dead-heading (removing the spent flowers before they set seed) and by watering and lightly fertilizing them, they will re-bloom but more sparsely through the
summer.

There are not a lot of worries with Lupines, but I have noticed that aphids like ours. I wash them off with a stream of water every day or so, and they seem to get the idea that they are not wanted. They don't disappear, but they do make themselves less obvious.