A Tale of Two Lupins

Six weeks ago, I bought and planted two gallery lupins, one blue and the other cream. Theyâ??re about three metres apart and have been given the same feed and watering. As you can see, the cream lupin is nice and tight and is zooming away with four vigorous flower spikes.



The blue one has no flowers at all and just â??doesnâ??t look rightâ?. The lower leaves flop and the individual blades of each leaf are slow to open. Some leaves seem misshapen although other leaves have definitely been attacked by pigeons â?? I caught them at it.



Is the blue lupin just a slow starter or does it have to be given special treatment/ disposed of? Any advice would be most welcome.

 

The blue one looks o.k to me Flinty maybe just a slow starter!!

 

With luck and TLC it will flower later in the season!

Also cut the old flower spikes off when they finish flowering, (don't let the seed cases turn brown) and you may get a second flush of flowers, in the autumn!

Cherrio!

 

Hi I have the same, planted white ones last year which are amazing this year, lots and lots of huge flower spikes. planted two blue ones and they are only a third of the size and a couple of flower spikes each. - Watch out for snails and lupin aphids on them - I have a constant battle with both.

 

Perhaps the blue one's leaves just are different - they don't look diseased or anything too bad to me. Maybe it's a later flowerer by nature, ooo - just noticed the bottom most leaves - how interesting! Definitely hang onto it, and see what happens!

Let us know!!!

 

Those are lovely healthy specimens. The slugs get mine so I've given up! Lovely though.

 

Lupins usually get very woody after the second or third year,so I try to take cuttings of the best ones each year.

If I collect seed from any, I only leave a couple of seed pods to ripen on the stem, I cut the rest off, this is supposed to save the plants energy!

Totally agree about aphids, with me they are greyish colour, larger than the normal green ones and usually are found around the base of the stems.
A quick spray with insecticide quickly gets rid of them.

Also, some years they do not flower or grow as well as others years, I have no idea why!

Cherrio!

 

Christopher Lloyd used to grow Lupins as a biennial. He said that after flowering they go black and look horrible. And they leave a gap that you can't fill because Lupins have tap roots and you can't move them.

So I have done the same this year. I bought some small plugs last year and grew them on in pots, then planted them out in the autumn. They look brilliant this year. And I already have this years seedlings growing, ready for next year.

 

Thanks for your advice, folks.

I still think the blue one looks a bit of a backslider. But I'll keep my beady eye on him...

 

Interesting mine are fab this year - I am hoping for the same next year - think I'll collect some seed though just incase! - would I plant the seed in the autumn and over winter in the greenhouse or wait till next spring to plant?

I am useless at cuttings - are they easy from lupins?

 

Ellie - I would plant the seeds as soon as they are available. With luck you will have a reasonably well established plant by winter that can be left outside and will flower next year. If you plant them next year in the spring they probably won't flower that year.

Lupin seeds have a very hard coating. I soak them for several days in a saucer of water, and transplant them to a pot of compost as soon as they start to germinate.

 

Thanks Pete, that's helpful x