So lucious. The colors, the tall spires, the sprawling green leaves. Just everything about my spring garden makes me happy.
It does require lots of tending. I probably spend about an hour or two each day in the garden, pruning off dead growth, weeding, and watering the dry spots.
However, the plant I want to focus on today is the lupine. I have two kinds of lupine in my yard this year - and last year I had none!
As I planted the bulbs last fall, there were lots of bare spots, so I threw lupine over the bare ground above the bulbs. Of course, the lupine seeds went wherever they wanted, none grew in the space I had planned, but they made very good decsisions about where to root. They look gorgeous everywhere! The seeded lupine are the kind that grow in the Sequoias - lupines nanus - otherwise known as sky lupine, field lupine, or dwarf lupine. It is a tall, rangy, plant and has smaller, lighter petals on its stems. It grows profusely once it roots, much like a weed.
The other kind of lupine is new to me. It grows a little like foxglove, sturdy, with large bubbly bi-colored petals, on a singular stem. I bought two of them this year, one for the front, and one for the back yard. They are both blooming now and so delightful! This second type of lupine is called a Westcountry Manhattan Lights Lupine. They do look like Manhattan Lights, sparkling in the garden. What a lovely find!
Enjoy the late spring tour!