Lupine

LATIN NAME: LUPINUS SPP.

COMMON NAME: Lupine

The lupine spires the upright, herbaceous perennial or the annual with the palmately divided leaves of the many narrow leaflets and the tall, dense racemes of the pea-like flowers spiring upward in the blue, purple, pink, white or yellow, the fuzzy, pea-like pods carrying the round, mottled seeds. It grows quickly into the bold, clump-forming form, and it stands the cool summers and the poor soils well. It likes the sun, and the light, well-drained, slightly acid soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The lupine keeps turning up in the studies of the nitrogen-fixing legumes, and the Lupinus genus appears in the work on the poor-soil reclamation and the ornamental spires. The research looks at the way the root nodules feed the soil, the dense flower racemes, and the seed biology. The ecologists keep the soil-building habit in view, and the growers of the cottage-garden and meadow plants list the lupine in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Over the dry hillsides, the lupine spires the blue and the pink racemes through the summer grass. The root nodules rebuild the thin soil, the flowers feed the bumblebees, and the plant makes the fine border, the meadow plant and the soil improver. Some kinds carry the bitter alkaloids in the seeds and are best kept for the garden rather than the table. It settles into the light, acid, sunny ground. Spire-raised, nodule-fed and soil-born.

To grow the Lupine from seed, nick the hard coats with a knife and soak the seeds briefly.

Nick the hard coats with a knife and soak the seeds briefly, and keep the young plants in the open, sunny spot. The coloured spires rise through the summer. , then sow them in pots of gritty compost, keep the pots lightly watered, and the young plants come up as the roots take hold. The coloured spires rise through the summer.

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NAME: Lupine
OTHER COMMON NAMES: Streamside, Bigleaf, Garden, or Washington Lupine
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Lupinus Polyphyllus
COLOR: Blue, white, pink, and purple
PLANT SEEDS: Outdoors after frost / Indoors weeks before last frost
BLOOM TIME: Spring – Summer
HARDINESS ZONE: 3 – 9
PLANT HEIGHT: 12 – 36"
PLANT SPACING: 3 – 12"
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: Sun
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average

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