Growing Lupins…

I love everything about lupins - the colours, the spires, how welcome they are after a long winter. I would tend to start lupins off in late summer/autumn in the greenhouse or cold frame so that the seedlings are a good size to plant out by the following spring. A word of caution - snails and slugs LOVE lupins so try to keep them off (I go out and manually pick them off).

Once established lupins are easy to divide to make new plants and a doddle to start from seed. The seeds don’t tend to come true, so if you want a plant exactly like the parent then division is better, but if you are happy for a bit of variety then seeds are the way to go. The seeds are also really rewarding - big, with a lovely speckle to them.

Once they have finished flowering in late spring/early summer and are starting to look a bit tatty, you can cut them right back and you will get another flush of smaller spikes in early autumn. They set seed easily so it is easy to harvest and store your own seed. Just collect when the pods are dry but you need to catch them before they spring open.