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
Absolutely love your flowers, the colours meld together beautifully. Almost winter here now, so not around! But shall go to the florist tomorrow, joy!
Lupines grow wild, everywhere here in Newfoundland, mainly the blue/purple but I love them.
Your bouquets are beautiful
Cow pastures full of DANDELIONS here in the Alps!
Beautiful!…..
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 😉
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!
Here in Madrid there is another great purple planta, lavender. It grows wild and easily everywhere and with a great perfume.
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:)
I,too, would love to know the name of the apricot colored rose. Your bouquets are always so gorgeous.
What is the name of the frilly apricot rose nestled in your lupin arrangement?
What is the name of the frilly apricot rose nestled in your lupin arrangement?
All gorgeous.
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).
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!
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.
I love your flowers, you arrange them so beautifully. I rely on tropical leaves and onky a few very bright colours.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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….
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.
My Texas Vitex tree gives a similar flower that makes a wonderful, though short lived bouquet at this time of year.
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.
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.
Queen Anne’s Lace and blue Batchelor buttons bloom all along country road sides and fields here in upper South Carolina.
Sharon – I would like to know the name of the rose that features prominently in your arrangement. Thank you.Robin
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.’
We have lupine here in California but they are not nearly as gorgeous as yours! That bouquet is perfection. Love the combination.
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.