Lupins and Aphids

Hey guys, I have 5 lovely lupins in my boarder, but for the second year in a row they have been really badly attacked by aphids. I don't like to use spray in my garden and the lupins sit in front of a red currant and wine berry so I have just ended up chopping them down entirely. I think I'm going to dig them out because a) they are awfully big and b) they are not at all healthy! So..... does anyone have suggestions of bulbs/annuals, for spring, summer, autumn, winter interest....? I'll do a bit of research but suggestions welcome ;-)

 

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You'll (almost) never grow lupins if you don't spray.

It is usually the large grey american aphids that get all over them, especially down in the new leaf growth!

It's either spray or :flag:

Cheers

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I had those awful huge American Lupin aphids in the past. But I have just been prompted to have a look now and there is not a sign of an aphid on my Lupins. And I don't think I have had any for the last two or three years.

What I am doing now is growing them as biennials. Growing them in pots until late autumn, and then planting them out in the bed. Last year's batch are currently flowering, but when they have finished I will dig them up and throw them away, as I have a new batch growing. The reason for doing this is that when the Lupins go over, they look awful and just take up space and you can't move them as they have taproots and will die. Having removed them I can replace them with some late flowering plants like Dahlias, and when they go over they will be replaced by the new batch of Lupins. It would appear that an additional advantage that I hadn't realised is that I don't get aphids on them.

 

Whatever you grow, include some Nasturtiums (Trapaeolum majus), which deflect aphid (and other) attention from your other plants.

 

I know what you mean MZtrouble.
I have always grown Lupins in my garden. I love them - chidhood memories and all that.
I never had an aphid problem but about 5 years ago I found the Lupins covered 3" thick in huge Lupin Aphids. It was like ropes and so disgusting I couldn't deal with it. By the time I got my husband to go and deal with it there was no Lupins - they had been eaten into the ground. Yuk !
I've never had the problem since. I don't spray anything I don't have to but rather than do without Lupins I would spray them if I had to.

 

Like Alice, I have childhood memories of my Grandad's garden and its lupins of myriad colours. I've never had much luck growing them, wrong type of soil, slugs and snails etc., so I was delighted when a kindly neighbour gave me a couple earlier this year which have flowered beautifully. Flushed with success I bought another, but since I didn't have anywhere for it immediately, left it in its pot for a few days. 'What nice sturdy stems' I thought on day 3 - on day 4 it looked decidedly droopy, then I put my specs on and discovered those 'thick' stems were infact moving! Sorry, but I got out the spray PDQ (there was a certain perverse satisfaction in watching the little critters bite the dust). The plants have since shown a marked improvement, no flowers yet, indeed no sign of flowers, but it was a decidedly 'yeuk' moment. Am now hoping to save some seed from the healthy plants, but I'll be wearing the specs more often in future!