Sowing Lupins

celcius_kkw

I’m debating whether to grow lupins from seeds this year.. on the packets the instruction says sow in feb/March for flowers the year after, which is slightly confusing as I didn’t think lupins are biennials like foxgloves? 

My question is, if I were to sow lupin seeds now, would I get a show of flowers in summer THIS year? 

I know the alternative is to buy plug/potted plants in spring but they do cost a lot more than seeds and takes half the fun out of growing them.. 

Wilderbeast

Lupins are perennial plants but they need to be sown in an autumn to get big enough to have a chance of flowers in the 1st year. Plants don't always produce flowers in year 1 even if they are perennials.

Mr. Vine Eye

Yes as Wilderbeast says - it says that because the plants won’t have grown large enough in the first year to be ready to flower.

Particularly ones that flower in spring or early summer, because they’d still be little more than seedlings then.

Although some plants surprise you and do flower the same year, even though they’re not supposed to, but at a later time. Like the aubrietta that I grew from seed.

Still worth doing as it’s fun growing from seed and you get far more of them for a fraction of the cost of buying older plants.

Ive got a pack of lupin seeds for the first time this year, we can compare! 🙂

pitter-patter

Two of the five lupins I’ve grown from seed have flowered the same year, in late summer. Not a spectacular show, but still... The best method that worked for me was to soak the seeds overnight and get them to sprout between kitchen towels. Much faster than the ones I’ve sown in pots.

Wilderbeast

@pitter-patter I found soaking worked really well too I had nearly 100% germination

celcius_kkw

@Wilderbeast - Thanks, that’s really good to know. I bought some small potted lupins last year - I think they were 5cm pots - just before the lockdown in March and they all flowered profusely in summer.. they were the gallery varieties. 

This is what they looked like immediately after re-potting. To me they looked as though they could have been sown earlier during the year (like Jan-Feb) given the relatively small size - thus I try to be hopeful I might be able to achieve the same result from seeds myself. I do understand it will be a bit hit and miss though. 

This is when it was at its peak in June.. 3 months after re-potting. I love its scent too, particularly the white ones. 

@Mr. Vine Eye - a lupin grow along sounds very exciting indeed, even more so now that we are in lockdown! which varieties have you gone for? I might be tempted to try the gallery series.. since I had good results with them last year, but they are quite short. 

@[email protected] That’s a great tip! I saw that on YouTube before and I will certainly follow suit. I also saw some people rubbing the seeds with sand paper but I didn’t fancy doing that mainly because I do not have any sand paper lying around.. 

PurpleRose

Wow! What a beautiful show of Lupins you had there @celcius_kkw

Bright star

I find perennial lupins one of the easiest and rewarding seeds to sow, I’ve never got mine to flower in first year but that is probably the time of year I sow them ( February), I will an try autumn sowing next time. You could also try sowing annual lupins for blooms this year whilst your perennial seedlings are maturing.

Eustace

Sorry to butt in :-) Do lupins have bulbs? Wilco sells them as per the link below:

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-lupinus-mix-perennial-spring-planting-bulbs-3-pack/p/0158584

JennyJ

No. Those will be bare roots packed in a bit of dry compost. If you buy them, get them in the ground as soon as possible.

MsCatFly

Hello 👋🏻
I sowed Lupin from seed last March and two thirds of them bloomed. I expect they'll be bigger this year and bloom  much earlier, but I was very pleased with the result! Here are some of mine  in bloom in July. I had so many that I didn't have room for them all in the beds!  

This one was taken in October.