Quest for the red lupin

Unfortunately lupins are short-lived perennials that can’t be depended upon to come back faithfully in the same spot year after year sporting your favorite colour. However, it’s easy to add them for transitory appreciation.

Veseys sells Russell hybrid lupine seeds in blue, red, rose, yellow and mixed colour packages and recommends growing them in slightly acidic soil.

George Russell (1857-1951) was a Yorkshire gardener who became fascinated by lupins. He dedicated the latter half of his life to experimenting with crosses and produced a range of cultivars with larger and better blooms in an extensive range of shades. His “dynasty of lupins” is still admired and sought after today.

Lupins rarely breed true so if you want to keep a plant’s colour pure then you have to propagate it in isolated conditions to prevent cross-pollination. That’s a challenging task for the average gardener.

One option is to take basal cuttings of new shoots in the spring. To do this, run an old knife blade between the side shoot and the main stem of a mature plant, severing them from each other below the soil level. Remove the lower leaves from the shoot and the tip.

Dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting powder and plant in a pot filled with equal parts of grit or sharp sand and peat. Firm the cutting in gently, water it well, drain and place the pot in a plastic bag. They should root in two to three weeks. Plant in a protected area with a light mulch for the winter.

In New Zealand Lupinus polyphyllus have escaped into the wild and grow in large numbers along main roads and streams on the South Island, just as they do in southwest Nova.

Wikipedia provides some interesting tidbits about lupins in popular culture. In parts of the United Kingdom the term "lupin" can be used to describe someone in a derogatory fashion. It’s roughly synonymous with the words "fool" or "idiot".

A Monty Python sketch featured a would-be Robin Hood named Dennis Moore. He stole lupins from the rich and gave them to the poor, however they argued that money or food would be more practical.