Lupins

elliottsargent657TQJwHX · January 2022

I am a huge fan of lupins and growing them from seed would be great for adding them in large drifts. However, I know they can be troublesome to grow from seed, and I wonder if anyone has had any success doing this?

Pete.8 · January 2022

I grew them from seed and they were easy.
I sowed Lupin Festival on 3 March 2017 and some flowered the same year.
They were much stronger plants the following year.
I had about 12 plants.
My main gripe was that most of them were pink

punkdoc · January 2022

Don’t think they are troublesome at all, although they may not flower first year from seed.
I sow in June, plant out following Spring and they flower that Summer.

Obelixx · January 2022

Never had problems sowing them and growing them but keeping them is another matter. In my last garden they died of fright in very cold wet winters or were munched by slimesters or infested with lupin aphid.

I might try them again here as it's warmer, drier and there are fewer slugs and snails.

Posy · January 2022

Yes, they are easy to grow from seed. Start in early summer, overwinter in a cold frame then into the garden once the frost is over. You need good drainage to keep them going for the next year, though. As @Obelixx says, planting out is when your real troubles start.

Pauline 7 · January 2022

My friend across the road can't grow them for love nor money whereas they grow better than weeds in my garden. I have never planted any and haven't seen any in other neighbours gardens, but I have them popping up everywhere I look.

Crazybeelady · January 2022

Another vote for them being easy to grow from seed - as someone else mentioned, it's the aphids that become the problem! I've officially given up on them, they just get absolutely covered in my garden, no matter how often I go out and squidge them all.
They seem to self seed well too - I kept spotting them popping up in my grass last year!

Also, I've found they survive Winter ok - I had one in a pot last Winter, didn't look after it at all (as sick of them with their aphids!) and that survived and flowered last Summer; that was the only one I didn't end up cutting down as it did avoid the aphids a bit better than the ground ones.

Fairygirl · January 2022

There's a wild one which seeds around in lots of places - including motorway roadsides etc @Pauline 7, so that might be what you have

Pauline 7 · January 2022

Possibly @Fairygirl, but it seems strange that it doesn't like my neighbours gardens.

Obelixx · January 2022

Different soil/aspect/rain shadow or not? My last garden was really fertile alkaline loam over a layer of clay. I couldn't grow rhododendrons and azaleas and other ericaceous plants but I had great clematis, brassicas and rhubarb.

My neighbours over the way were on sand and had a riding school but, despite all that manure, they couldn't grow rhubarb so took my excess.

Fairygirl · January 2022

Perhaps they feed a lot and it's too rich @Pauline 7.

As @Obelixx says, sometimes it's just a difference in soil conditions and/or pH.

Lupins

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