enter the lupins

by Sharon Santoni

Lupins are one of my happy flowers.   They give such a show at this time of year.   In the garden I have quite a few in different colours, but not enough to supply all the bouquets I want in the house.

Luckily for me, on a quiet country lane near here, along the roadside in the long grass, there is a colony of lupins, that only I seem to find interesting!   The first time I came across them, I couldn’t believe my luck, about half a mile of road decked in blue!

Since then, each year, I pop back with a secateur during the month while they are in flower.   Filling the trunk of the car with their deep blue-mauve blooms, and making me so happy.

Often I use them alone, as a statement in a big vase, but this week I combined them with the roses that are in flowers right now.

It’s all a little unruly, but that’s the way I like it.    It doesn’t take much time to pull a bouquet together and may only last a few days, but for me it is one of life’s necessary luxuries.

And tell me, for I’d love to know, have you found a free supply of a particular flower near you?

43 comments

Jan Drury May 23, 2018 - 11:48 am

Absolutely love your flowers, the colours meld together beautifully. Almost winter here now, so not around! But shall go to the florist tomorrow, joy!

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Kelly May 23, 2018 - 11:50 am

Lupines grow wild, everywhere here in Newfoundland, mainly the blue/purple but I love them.

Your bouquets are beautiful

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Gail May 23, 2018 - 11:53 am

Cow pastures full of DANDELIONS here in the Alps!

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Donna D May 23, 2018 - 11:55 am

Beautiful!…..

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Ignacio May 23, 2018 - 12:05 pm

I am in the process of making my house on the country side and I find your blog such an inspiration. Specially when you talk about your garden. Here in Argentina, most country club houses are so boring and their gardens are just flat green lands with nothing but a pool… I’ve always loved France (and a bit of english gardens) so I know mine, will have to be as romantic as yours. Thank you Sharon 😉

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Jan Bell May 23, 2018 - 12:11 pm

Lily of the Valley is what I have found growing wild! Although I love lupine, the fragrance of the Lily is out of this world especially when in a vase at your bedside!

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Dagmar May 23, 2018 - 1:00 pm

Here in Madrid there is another great purple planta, lavender. It grows wild and easily everywhere and with a great perfume.

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Meg bush May 23, 2018 - 1:01 pm

Simply gorgeous! I love them as well. They are a true gift! But I must know, do you know the name of that one ruffled orange melon color rose¡??? It’s stellar:)

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Beth Williams May 23, 2018 - 3:14 pm

I,too, would love to know the name of the apricot colored rose. Your bouquets are always so gorgeous.

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Michele O'Bernier May 23, 2018 - 1:09 pm

What is the name of the frilly apricot rose nestled in your lupin arrangement?

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Michele O'Bernier May 23, 2018 - 1:11 pm

What is the name of the frilly apricot rose nestled in your lupin arrangement?

All gorgeous.

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Esther George May 23, 2018 - 1:39 pm

Hi Sharon, your flowers are beautiful. I love lupins but have never tried to grow them and you have just inspired me to give them a try. There are no flowers growing wild in our area…wish there was. People from our neighbourhood are always asking my husband for Geranium, Frangipani and Rose cuttings. Thank you for sharing beauty. Till next time, regards Esther from Sydney (getting colder).

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Sherry May 23, 2018 - 1:49 pm

Sharon, dear. It will be weeks before lupines and peonies are in bloom in NWPA, so thank you for sharing your breathtaking display of blues, purples and pinks today! You certainly have a flair,, dah-ling!

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Holly May 23, 2018 - 1:59 pm

Here in Southern California, roadside flowers are the fabulous orange California poppy and all along the freeways grows the “filler” purple status. So little grows wild as most areas are “planned” and frankly boring as we are so water-wise here. But filling my garden with lavender, white iceberg roses and salvia much like the gardens at Patina Farm in Ojai.

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Lyn May 23, 2018 - 1:59 pm

I love your flowers, you arrange them so beautifully. I rely on tropical leaves and onky a few very bright colours.

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AmyC May 23, 2018 - 2:35 pm

This is our first summer having lupines in our NorthAmerican garden. Yours are beautiful and make me all the more anxious to have ours open! I was initially inspired by the Barbara Clooney book, Miss Rumphias. My 11 year old and I are ready to turn our world into one of lupines!

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Sabrina May 24, 2018 - 2:44 am

I love that book too! I transplanted a bunch of lupine from the garden of a historic estate in my area to my plot. They were trying to restore the historic garden and the lupine were taking over. Remembering that book I gave the interlopers a home. Now they are overrunning my garden but I love them so I make room. Hope yours grow well. This world can use more beauty.

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Morgan Joy May 24, 2018 - 10:01 pm

That was my favorite book as a child! I think of it often. Lupines are a favorite of mine because of that book and thinking about the coast of Maine and making the world a more beautiful place! Thank you, Sharon, for making the world a more beautiful place! I love reading your blog.

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Betsy May 23, 2018 - 2:38 pm

Why can’t I grow Lupines? What is the secret? I love those gorgeous flowers.

I so much enjoyed gazing at your beautiful arrangement of flowers. I love arrangements like these as they are not so stiff and look more natural.

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Terri Arbutina May 23, 2018 - 2:42 pm

Oh My! Your flowers and bouquets are amazing! I really try to make my gardens as beautiful as I can, but here in Ohio, we get extreme temperature variations, and things don’t make it through the harsh winters. But, I do draw inspiration from your posts!

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Freddie Ann May 23, 2018 - 3:04 pm

Absolutely beautiful. Living in the Ozarks we have quite a few wild flowers growing along the highways and country roads (where old homesteads used to be). I don’t hear of Lupines often, so I’m not sure if they grow well in this area; will have to check on that.

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Libby Hu May 23, 2018 - 3:10 pm

Hello Sharon

Reading your posts always make my mind wander to where I have left Aussie land,my husband and absconded with my dog to France to find my dream country retreat and garden.

I remember when I was a child picking wild fresia’s by the handful from a field near my home. The perfume was just divine.

Alas it is now housing development.

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Valorie May 23, 2018 - 3:14 pm

My Italian great-grandmother loved lupines, they were her favorite flower! She called them lupes! She never really learned to speak English. She was such a doll and a wonderful grandma to my father and great-grandmother to me and my siblings.

I’ve tried and tried to grow lupines, but never had much luck. They might survive a year or two but eventually I always lose them. I have one growing now that I started from seed that seems to want to live for some reason. It’s not in an ideal location but I’m afraid to move it. It’s still tiny and I doubt it’ll flower this year, but we will see. Thanks for the gorgeous photos, yours are just incredible as are the roses. x

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Marilyn May 23, 2018 - 3:23 pm

No free supply near me, but absolutely love your lupins. Have planted lupins in the garden, but not enough to pick. Now I have many roses in my garden and white calla lilies too; so those are what I am picking.

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Linda May 23, 2018 - 3:51 pm

Bonjour Sharon!

What a breathtakingly beautiful bouquet! I share your need for bouquets year round! My husband considered it a better “vice” than smoking. LOL

One of my fond childhood memories was each spring Mother would pile my sisters and I in the car with buckets and head off to her “secret” spots for gathering both daffodils and…my favorite…lilacs from an old remote homestead down a country road.

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Terry Phillips May 23, 2018 - 4:00 pm

Your blog is a breath of fresh air. I have a large garden so lots of flowers in summer. But my favourite wildflower locally is ‘Pearly Everlasting’. It has the scent of honey and the flowers when dried can be dyed. And the name drips off the tongue; pearly everlasting….

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Steven May 23, 2018 - 5:07 pm

Lupins are a favorite! They are striking with the mullen and foxglove and black&blue salvia in our little patch of sun. I plant several every year hoping they will adjust to the hot and humid Atlanta climate. The best I have done is an intense, deep red one that came back for three seasons and then, sadly, disappeared. They are much happier farther north in the edge of the mountains. Lucky you to have them in abundance! Lovely photos as always.

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Karen May 23, 2018 - 5:49 pm

My Texas Vitex tree gives a similar flower that makes a wonderful, though short lived bouquet at this time of year.

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Candace Ford May 23, 2018 - 6:06 pm

Lots of beautiful wildflowers in western Oregon. The wild lupine, alas, is a much paler blue than yours. A great vase filler plant on our property is the red huckleberry – small beautiful green leaves. I also love chive flowers tucked into a vase of other flowers. The color is nice all alone in a small vase on the kitchen window sill. The main color here at this time is from the wild gold finches at our multiple thistle feeders.

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Kim May 23, 2018 - 7:04 pm

I have many lupines in my garden blooming right now as well. Spring is when my garden is at it’s best and I am fully enjoying it’s beauty. I have lupines, iris and pansies right now along with lilacs. It is beautiful but then the warmer weather comes and my garden turns to roses and daisies which are more muted in color. My peonies should be blooming in a few weeks and if my luck holds out I will have some roses blooming to go with them. Roses and peonies are my favorite flower arrangements.

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hedi patrick May 23, 2018 - 7:57 pm

Queen Anne’s Lace and blue Batchelor buttons bloom all along country road sides and fields here in upper South Carolina.

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Robin Robert May 23, 2018 - 10:50 pm

Sharon – I would like to know the name of the rose that features prominently in your arrangement. Thank you.Robin

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Mary Beth May 23, 2018 - 11:53 pm

Lovely bouquet!! Wild flowers in western Massachusetts Hmmm tiger lilies in summer, cornflower summer, sometimes myrtle, Queen Anne’s lace, dandelions, wild climbing roses. Lupines look lovely and I am partial to blue flowers so I will see if they can grow here. We are zone 5. Merci.

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Meg Bush May 24, 2018 - 12:01 am

I might suggest for all of the rose seekers. Check David Austin Roses. I’m not sure it’s there! But fairly close! What a gorgeous bouquet!

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Elaine May 24, 2018 - 12:06 am

Lupines love Nova Scotia. You can drive on any highway during the month of June and they are growing in the ditches lining the highway. Just beautiful. We always say we can’t grow them in our gardens as the soil is not rocky enough. If you are lucky, you’ll find a small patch of a rare color. Everyone has their secret spot.

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Marianne May 24, 2018 - 2:30 am

Sharon, I love your flowers and thank you for their beauty. I absolutely love the deeper colored rose, wish I knew the name of it. It is on upper part of the pictures and is gorgeous. Today I ordered another Graham Thomas rose, which I love. The colors of your flowers are so beautiful together. Am saving this mail so can return to see the flowers. Thank you again for the beauty you share with all of us. I surely appreciate it.

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Nancy Barr May 24, 2018 - 3:47 am

Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos of some of my favorite flowers. Right now our peonies are at peak performance. Our home is full of vases of peonies exuding a marvelous aroma throughout our rooms.

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Botanic Bleu May 24, 2018 - 5:21 am

Sharon,

Your lupines are sublime, and the roses equally so. Texas is too hot for these beauties. Our version of lupines is the wildflower Texas bluebonnet that grows along the roadsides, ditches, and fields. They are much shorter than your lupines, are annuals, and are finished blooming by mid-April. Nonetheless, we Texans love them and watch for them every spring.

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B McGibbon May 24, 2018 - 3:34 pm

After a terribly long winter in southern Ontario, it is always such a joy to see a profusion of primroses pop their pretty little heads out amongst the lush green leaves. I work in a flower shop and every spring boxes upon boxes of little primroses arrive to brighten our days. Each spring I take a few “friends” home with me and enjoy them on my windowsills. Once the snow has melted, I plant them outside. And now years later I am greeted each spring with an absolute riot of colours as all my little friends return to warm my heart. Such joy!

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Kathryn Weir May 25, 2018 - 2:04 am

Agapanthus grow everywhere, wild lupins in sand dunes, borage, Queen Anne’s Lace, buddlia takes over forest margins and is a nuisance, hawthorn, buttercups and dandelions, clover,self seeding old grey lavender are some of the plants that were introduced here in New Zealand that are prolific.

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Kathie Truitt May 25, 2018 - 9:49 pm

Here in Texas we are known for our Bluebonnets, but i love the 15 breeds of roses that surround my Cottage, aptly named ‘Rosebud Cottage.’

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cindy hattersley May 28, 2018 - 5:37 pm

We have lupine here in California but they are not nearly as gorgeous as yours! That bouquet is perfection. Love the combination.

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Sandra Oliverio June 2, 2018 - 5:31 pm

Sharon,
I find this bouquet breathtaking! I would love to paint it, but would like your permission first. And, yes the apricot rose is something I have never seen before, but gorgeous.

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