Lupins are these majestic tall spires, they remind me of a foxglove combined with a pea (makes sense as they’re actually part of the pea family), giving the flowers the look of little wimples; an array of colourful nuns standing in a tower. Leaves like a starburst, silky green fingers that always seem to cup a drop of water in their centers and they’re usually surrounded by a halo of bees.

But the ones I’m looking at look like they’ve been through a plant based war, flowers drooping, leaves shredded. Greenfly have descended like the zombies overrunning that city in world war z as Brad Pitt parkours from building to building. They’ve been sprayed once which has left a swathe of buggy death but hasn’t deterred the next wave from sitting on top of their defeated brethren. They need to be moved to the back of the garden centre to a) give them time to recover and b) protect their neighbours from infestation. Also no one wants a plant that looks as sorry for itself as these poor guys.

Loading up a trolley with small dwarf forms, an array of pinks, reds and blues. Making space for the Noble and Russell hybrids so tall their stems are flopping forward we trundle to the back. A concession of bees joins me, chargrinned that I’m moving their pollen feast they bumble along lifting up the tops of the flowers to scuttle inside.

Once they were all moved and doused a second time in bug repellent I was left with the rejects. Ones that had been so damaged, the stem had been hacked back to the ground and a fringe of dead leaves encircled them. They wouldn’t be bought and if they got put in the back greenhouse I didn’t rate their chance of survival very high. On their label they were this beautiful burgundy and yellow Spire called “Manhattan lights” they looked like a skyscraper at night. I had to try and save them, realising as I boxed them up to take them home I didn’t actually know anything about them. So that’s where this blog started because what better way to learn than to explain it to someone else (aren’t you lucky).

Field Notes

Theres quite a few types of lupins from annuals to perennials to even a few shrubs in this family tree, but I’m going to be focusing on the herbaceous perennial lupin, she of the cottage-core dreams and impressive flower spikes. They do die back each winter and will regrow from the established root system so don’t get all twitchy with your spade because you think you’ve killed it when it gets cold. Just chop it back to neaten things up (when the leaves have died after the first frost) and let them sleep.

They come in an impressive variety of colours from the bright and solid “Legendary shades” to the “West Country” bi coloured showstoppers. You can get different sizes ranging from dwarf forms that top out at 18 inches to the lanky Russel hybrids that reach up to 4ft.

Plant in spring or early summer for a good show, make sure it’s in full sun or you won’t get those beautiful flowers. You can plant in a pot but you will be making a lot of work for yourself, I’d only recommend it if you’ve got really waterlogged soil in a cold area, or you’re living that container lifestyle in a concrete garden.

Remember if your baby is in a pot move it into a cold greenhouse, cold frame or right next to the house for a bit of rain protection. It’ll stop the pot getting waterlogged and rotting the roots away in winter.

Water well as it establishes and you’ll end up with a quite drought tolerant plant as it remembers its north american routes climbing up the Andes and foraying into deserts. Add a potassium rich fertiliser when its growing (mainly when its flowering) this will help with an impressive show of blooms in june and july.

Deadhead to keep the flowers going (you can cut the whole spike off to the base unless you want the seeds) they attract so many bees and butterflies to the garden you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of a nature documentary.

Lupins are nitrogen fixers (similar to peas, beans and clover), they host bacteria that absorb nitrogen from the air converts it to ammonia and fix it to nodules in their roots . When the plant dies or is harvested the stored nitrogen in the roots is then released back into the soil. They help improve overall soil health and structure, providing nitrogen for nearby plants while they grow.

Do they make good cut flowers, of course just cut off the spike when the buds are just starting to open near the base, this should encourage more flower spikes to grow in its place.

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Plant Lore and legend

History and myth

Lupin has its roots in the latin word ‘Lupus’ for ‘wolf like’, it’s believed this refers to the voracious way they spread quickly ravaging the ground like its namesake. Though it’s also hypothesized that it was their danger to livestock that gave them the name, the pods of the plant are so high in alkaloids they can make a human or animal very sick after eating it.

The legume seeds known as lupin beans were popular with the Romans, Incan’s and Many Native American tribes such as the Yavapai. The food stuffs were soaked under running water (to remove the bitter alkaloids) then cooked or toasted to make them edible.

(Do not try this at home! I’m looking at you! Don’t do it)

Now a days a specific lupin is grown for producing edible beans and they are sold brined in jars, like pickles or olives, commonly found in Europe and sold as a popular street snack in Egypt.

Pliny the Elder wrote about the seeds of the white lupine in his Naturalis Historia as “‘No kind of fodder is more wholesome and light of digestion than the White Lupine, when eaten dry. If taken commonly at meals, it will contribute a fresh colour and a cheerful countenance.” They were also used in medicine for ailments of the skin.

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Reading the leaves

What I’m reading…

What I’m watching…

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