How to Grow English Lupine

English lupins (Lupinus hybrids), also known as Russell lupins (or lupines to those on the American side of the pond), are the classic flowers of the English cottage garden. The tall spires contain hundreds of rounded blossoms from late spring to midsummer, and multiple spires rise from the mounded, lacy foliage. At the turn of the 19th century, a Yorkshire gardener named George Russell developed this hybrid from a variety of lupin species, and, unfortunately for gardeners in warm climates, these lupins prefer the cool weather of their English home.

Soil amendments (if necessary)
Lupin seeds
Shallow dish
Trowel or small rake
Pruning shears
Seed-starting mix (if necessary)
Peat pots (if necessary)

Instructions

- 1
  
  Test your soil in the fall if you question the site's quality; this gives you time to make adjustments.
  
  Prepare the planting site. Some amendments take weeks or months to affect the soil quality. Lupins prefer sun to partial shade and rich, slightly acidic or neutral soil. Choose a site that drains well.
- 2
  Start the lupin seeds indoors two months before your area's average last frost date in spring. Soak the seeds in a shallow dish for 24 hours, then move the seeds to prepared peat pots. Lightly cover the seeds with 1/8 inch of the seed-starting mix. The seeds may take up to nine weeks to sprout, although many sprout within two to three weeks.
- 3
  Sow the seeds directly into the outdoor planting site, if possible. Lupins have long tap roots and don't appreciate the transplanting process; transplanting often damages the root. Plant the seeds in early spring, raking the seeds shallowly into the ground or covering them with 1/8 inch of soil.
- 4
  
  Lupin colors include white, yellow, red, purple and pastels.
  
  Thin your in-ground plantings when the lupins grow their first set of true leaves or when the sprouts are 1 to 2 inches tall. English lupins range from dwarf, 18-inch species to giant varieties nearly 5 feet tall. Space the lupins apart roughly half their expected height.
- 5
  Cut diseased or aphid-infested lupins to the ground if you enjoy cool summers. Barring a sudden heat wave, lupins in cool-summer gardens resprout from the roots. If you have warm summers, treat the lupins as annuals.

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