Claudia said:

It is so hard to keeps all On Topic isn't it!

I think that may be against the rules here.

TADD here.
Is there any info on the seed forum?
I believe some lupines self sow and some purchased plants are steril.I wanted Gallery Blue to self sow .Not only did it not sow ,it came up the second year a smaller plant with lavander flowers.

I have really bad luck with Lupines and Foxgloves.

I haven't had much success with Foxgloves here but I think I need to pay more attention to them. I'll probably try again this year.

I think the wild Lupines self sow.

Morning TADD and BOB's

Yes, they do. Those I have.

You are probably right. My cousin lives in Maine and sends the most lusceous pictures of them in bloom. Big clouds of blue on the meadows and hills. I'm so jealous.She sent seeds which never took here .

Beautiful.

I hear they like good drainage and at least 8 hours of full sun.

And the really good news is that deer LOVE them.

That's ok, we don't have deer. I live in the city and they all seem to get hit by a car before they get here.

That's one good thing about city living. I live in a small city but have acres of woods behind me with acres for deer to roam. The neighbor's dog keeps them away now ... some of the time. Fences don't work cause they just jump those if they are hungry enough.

What happened to the cartoon? Like the new picture though.

It was too big, it got chopped off. I am going to resize it when I get time and I will try again later. Thank you, I thought it was really funny. (the caption, I mean.)

ahem, about the lupines, some of mine were already here. They cross and self seed like crazy. I, ah, have actually been know to throw seedlings away out of desperation.

Isn't that the way it goes, some of us can't grow them and some have too many. Are yours all growing from reseeding themselves?

Kathleen, what kinda Lupines do you have. Is your area humid?

I wintersowed lupines once. I think they were the Russell hybrids, but couldn't swear to it. They sprouted and grew well the first year. When they bloomed the second year the flowers were beautiful for a short time. After bloom, the foliage was butt ugly. They didn't like my soil or my climate, I shovel pruned them and fed them to the compost.

Lupins have long taproots, and I think they like well-drained acidic soil and cool climate. I don't have anything like that. My soil is alkaline clay and our summers are usually hot. Winters are cold and wet.

I'm not willing to be a slave to plants any more. If they don't perform to my liking within a few years they become compost food. There are a lot of things that thrive in my conditions, so I mostly stick to them. It's just so easy to toss something in the compost and wintersow something else to replace it in that piece of garden real estate... I do occasionally buy an actual plant that I want but I wintersow way, way more than I buy plants. I'm cheap too! And I never have lost that sense of satisfaction I get from growing seeds, especially the wintersown ones.

Karen

Because your practical, and love a bargain. Why pay 10 dollars for one plant when you can get 30 for a dollar, it's a no-brainer. Right? I do get a lot of satisfaction also.
As for Lupines I will just get the wild Lupine seeds and if they grow they grow, at least I tried. I hear the butterflies love them. (TADD)

I think the original bunch were probably Russel hybrids, but I've thrown in some seed and they have all crossed and re-crossed.

Beautiful.

Karen