Russell Lupin 'Carmine'

Glowing carmine spires over lush, mid green palmate leaves.

Lupins are a grandiose highlight in any summer garden, where their softly fragranced flowers perform for weeks on end. The soft, palmate foliage is a lush addition to garden beds.

Lupins grow best in full sun and will naturalise easily. Their extraordinary colour display includes a range of blue, pink, yellow, cream, burgundy, purple and bicolour flowers. They flower at the same time as Bearded Iris, many Clematis and Peonies.

Plant Lupins in a sunny, well drained, compost rich soil. Add liquid fertiliser regularly when in growth for maximum flower power. Remove spent flowers back to the next bud to tidy and encourage more to grow, while allowing some to produce seeds for future generations.

Lupin is from the Latin word for wolf, Lupine. They were so named because of the old credence that Lupins robbed the soil of its richness, because they were found growing in areas of poor, sandy soils. Of course now we know, as member of the pea/legume family (Fabaceae), their roots actually have the ability to convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into plant nutrients.

Plant into moderately fertile to humus rich, well drained soil in a sunny to part shade position. Water to establish, and if rainfall is low during flowering they appreciate a bit of moister. They don’t like to be cold and wet in their dormancy, good drainage is important.

You can collect the seeds for sowing next season. Cut the foliage back in late autumn to tidy, it will reshoot mid spring. It is a good idea to protect your Lupins from slugs and snails, as they find them delicious. It is important you remove the seed heads as they form, or any spent flowers. A plants goal is grow then reproduce and if it is able to form seeds it has done its job and will cease flowering. By removing these seeds the plants will continue to produce blooms.