Flower Power : Lupin

Gotta love a Lupin eh?

 

 

 

And obviously everyone does as if you Google an ‘images’ search for Chelsea Flower Show the flower displays which predominate are those of our humble Lupin. 

 

 

Is this surprising? 

 

Surprising that it’s not that stalwart of any English garden with it's thousands of permutations; the rose, or something exquisitely exotic or perhaps the much lauded Sweet Pea that everyone goes crazy for.

 

 

 

 The Lupin does look undeniably impressive standing to attention in a host of rainbow spikes.

 

 

So very individual with its umbrella (often furry) leaves, dramatic colour combinations and very distinctive flower shape.

 

 

 

Just be aware that the slugs and snails love them every bit as much as we do and can decimate your prized specimen in the course of a single night.

 

Another detail which may surprise is that the Lupin is a species in the legume family, which probably makes sense when you think of the seed heads that appear at the end of flowering and although we don’t find them on the supermarket shelves alongside the green beans they do grace the table among other cultures and were eaten by the Romans.  The protein rich beans have a number of nutritional benefits and are gluten free, so keep an eye out as they could be making a comeback.

 

As they are notorious for not coming true from seed, if there is a particular species you wish to replicate it's probably best to attempt to propagate from cuttings.

 

Lupins grow wild in other countries but of the cultivated types in the UK a very popular and well recognised variety extensively available from garden centres are the Russell Hybrids. 

Around 100 years ago George Russell devoted many years of pains-taking time and effort in his attempts to breed the ultimate Lupin for vigour and density until he achieved more robust and colourful varieties than anything previously available.

 

Those original Russell Hybrids were the forerunners of many of the ice cream and fondant bi-colours with us today. 


Although there are a few hundred varieties now to choose from many of these will have been developed from those original Russell Hybrids.