Lupines, with their colorful spikes, are some of the most popular garden perennials of them! Lupinus includes hundreds of species, many native to North America. You'll see them both in the wild and in gardens—from California to Maine.
Perhaps you've seen photos of one of the most famous lupines, the Texas Bluebonnet, which carpets fields and road sides every April, drawing many nature lovers.
Growing 1 to 4 feet tall, the leaves of lupine are grey-green with silvery hairs and the flowers resemble pea flowers. The seed pod looks like a hairy pea pod and contains up to 12 seeds.
PlantingAphids can occasionally infest the plant.
Recommended VarietiesThere are over 200 wild species of lupine, and most are North American natives. These usually have blue, white, or yellow flowers.
Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis) is the blue perennial plant that grows in the eastern half of the North America.
Texas Bluebonnet (L. texensis) has dark blue flowers with white markings and cover fields and roadsides in Texas every April.
Russell hybrid lupines (L. polyphyllus) also called garden lupines have been the basic group from which all new hybrids are created.
The Russell Lupine Mix seeds are easy to grow and the tall flowers bloom in a variety of colors.
Lupine Woodfield Hybrids come in deeper shades and bicolored blooms.
Dwarf hybrids ‘Dwarf Lulu’ and ‘Minarette’ grow only to 1 ½ to 2 feet tall.
Wit and Wisdom
Scientific name: Helicoverpa armigera Hübner Native range: Africa, Eurasia, Oceania At Risk Old world bollworm has a very broad host range covering hundreds of plant species. Corn and soybeans could be hosts in Minnesota as well as small grains, cucurbits, alfalfa, beans, tomatoes, potatoes and many others. The closely related corn earworm can be a significant pest in Minnesota on sweet corn and other plants. The corn earworm does not overwinter in Minnesota but
Scientific name: Tomicus piniperda Linnaeus Native range: Europe At Risk Scotch (Scots) pine is the primary host for pine shoot beetle although all pines are potential hosts and it is reported to attack other conifers when beetle populations are high. No significant problems have been reported in Minnesota despite the presence of pine shoot beetle for at least ten years. Distribution The pine shoot beetle was first found in the U.S. in 1992 (Ohio) and can now be foun
Scientific name: Globodera rostochiensis (golden nematode) and Globodera pallida (pale cyst nematode) Native range: Andes Mountains of South America Potato field infected with PCN. Bonsak Hammeraas, NIBIO - The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Bugwood.org licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License. At Risk High populations of potato cyst nematode (PCN) can reduce potato yields up to 80 percent. In the absence of host plants, t
Scientific name: Phakopsora pachyrhizi and Phakopsora meibomiae Native range: P. pachyrhizi - Asia and Australia, P. meibomiae – Latin America At Risk Host Plants and Impact - Soybean rust can infect about 90 different plant species, many of which are legumes. Commercially important hosts in Minnesota include soybeans, dry beans and other legumes. Distribution Of the two species that cause soybean rust, only the more aggressive P. pachyrhizi has been found in the conti