A Little Late Lupin Love

I feel very "behind" on some of my blogging topics. I nearly missed the lupins altogether in June! The patch I usually visit and photograph was just "not itself" this year, there are usually huge swaths with many colours, and this year there were very few. Winterkill? I don't know. Or perhaps it's just the normal progression of things.. lupins are short-lived as a perennial in your garden, so maybe they die out too in their wild setting?  Did anyone else notice fewer lupins this year, or was I just not looking hard enough?











I do love lupins though, and did manage to find some to feed my obsession... I know Sara in Finland has been waiting patiently to see my annual lupin photos... that's what brought her to my blog in the first place! Imagine - a friendship over thousands of miles, all because of lupin photos! So here you go Sara- just for you. I'm afraid they're not up to my usual lupin standard, but maybe they'll be better next year... (I have used a few photos from my archives to round out the collages.)
Do drop by Sara's blog here to say Hello - she has some wonderful lupin photos for you to enjoy as well here, here and here.

The lupins are done now for another year. We'll have to wait twelve long months before we can enjoy their beauty again...

Peace,
Linda

"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty." ~ John Ruskin

More Lupins...

Okay, I admit it! I'm a Lupin-lover. I just have to share a few more of my 2013 Lupin photos with you... When I commented on my friend Pam's blog after she posted some lupin photos earlier this week, I told her I'd be visiting my "favourite patch" for photos this week and she said "Oh take lots of closeups". So Pam - these are for you...

First of all, some lupin "babies"...


This shot at the right shows you what the leaves of the lupin look like - these are known as palmate compound leaves. "Palmate" refers to 3 or more divisions or lobes, looking like the outstretched fingers of a hand.















I love the way the color fades as you go up the cluster on the bloom to the left... God's paintbrush is amazing, isn't it?








I think these immature blooms are just as interesting as those which are fully open, don't you?













There were many bees and insects buzzing about this lupin patch.

 

Although this little buzzy bee at left is not in perfect focus, this photo makes me smile. I think I would have to title it "Incoming"....






Busy busy buzzy bees...

Such perfection.. every little flower in the upright cluster so perfectly placed...so perfectly colored.... amazing!!
 
Lorinda commented on my last post about the vivid color - just want you to know, I do NOT alter or enhance my photos. This is just what I saw and the photos are just as I took them, other than a few are cropped a bit...














 Just as I was ready to leave, having taken a good number of photos, the sun came out..... Well, who could resist some back-lit shots?  So to finish off, here are three of my favourite backlit photos... the sun just seemed to make the blossoms glow...












I hope you've enjoyed our foray into the Lupin patch...
Do lupins grow where you live?
What are your favourite wildflowers of early summer?

Peace,
Linda

The Flowers

All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's Garters, Shepherd's Purse,
Bachelor's Buttons, Lady's Smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames-
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny treetops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall
I should live for good and all.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Wildflower Wednesday... on Thursday!

Can you believe it? I forgot Wildflower Wednesday! Well, no that's not quite true. I just sort of  "lost" a day. Hubby was away for a few days.. I was busy.. and I forgot yesterday was Wednesday!! They say that happens when you are on vacation or retired.. you lose track of the days... I guess that's what happened. Now that the normal schedule with meetings, weekly Choir practice, etc. is done for the summer and the calendar doesn't have much written on it, I sometimes lose track of the days.. Anyway, enough excuses.
Since I have very recently spent a good deal of time in the lupin patch, I'm going ahead with Wildflower Wednesday anyway, and you guessed it- the feature flower is lupins. You know I LOVE lupins, I have written about them more than once - here, here and here if you care to go back and look at previous posts and photos..  Since I'm so late with this post, I won't bore you with much more yakkety yakk... I'll just show you a few of my favourite lupin photos for this year. (Would you believe I took 213 shots within about 45 minutes?! Don't worry I won't bore you with them all.)

Lupins come in a  variety of colors - blue
















 pink

purple


































yellow and peach






















and deep red. Although this one looks quite "pinky", it is actually a deep rosy red. Striking!





























Some are pale and soft in color, most are deep and vibrant.





























Some are just one color while others are bi-color.

 Regardless of their color, all are beautiful (just like people!) I have a favourite "patch" that I visit every year, not far from where I live. This time while there,  I was serenaded by a beautiful sparrow- I don't really "know" my sparrows but I figure this one had to be a Song Sparrow as his song was so sweet. His series of musical notes was charming, but he wouldn't let me get too close for a photo..  guess he was shy!

I am linking to Mosiac Monday at Little Red House. Drop by there for a look at more wonderful mosaics.

Peace,
Linda

"Tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes!"
~ William Wordsworth

Wildflower Wednesday

It's time again for Wildflower Wednesday. If you've been driving the highways and biways in the Maritimes lately, I'm sure you can guess what this week's "feature flower" is... it's the lupin (also spelled lupine).  Like many plants this spring, they are a week or two early. In fact in some areas, they are pretty well finished. Lupins can be found in North and South America, New Zealand and parts of Australia, the Andes, the Mediterranean and Africa. Here they are common in fields and along roadsides, growing well in poor sandy soil.You may not know that lupins are a genus in the legume family, and they enhance soil

fertility by "fixing" atmospheric nitrogen into a useable form in the soil. Lupins are also popular as garden plants - there are many hybrids and cultivars.
 I don't have any lupins in my garden; they are short-lived as a perennial. (If deer plague your garden, lupins are a good choice as deer will not eat them.) I prefer to go out and "romp" through a "wild" field of them. Luckily there is a good big patch of them each year not far from where I live so I can easily visit it several times with camera in hand, to get my "fill"...  I have many many lupin photos, but have chosen just a
 few to share with you today. I hope you can feel the "Lupin Love".... Yep, Linda loves lupins!!
I love the "soft focus" effect of the shot above, left. I was going to crop away the right side to get rid of the old dead weed stalk when I noticed the sparrow sitting there... see him at the top right edge of the photo? I think he was posing for me...
I think the lupins are spectacular when blooming - tall erect spikes packed with flowers in a rainbow of colors, both solid and bi-color. The leaves are attractive too- palmate, like the spread fingers of your hand, often with 10 or more leaflets. The flowers are peaflower shaped and grow in whorls around the spike (seen clearly in photo at right). The fruit is a hairy pod which contains the seeds. 
So I hope you'll enjoy your visit to my favourite lupin patch. What a great way to celebrate the first "official day" of summer!!










Peace and Happy Summer!
Linda

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date."
~ William Shakespeare

Linda Loves Lupins...

Yup- Lupin Love. That's what it is... June brings droves of lupins to the highways and fields of the Maritimes. Purples, blues, pinks, mauves and whites are the most common colors, but you might also find yellows, peaches, and red-burgundies. They can be solid or bi-color. You will find lupins in fields, ditches, along highways and backroads and in gardens. Are you familiar with the children's story "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney? Alice Rumphius believed with all her heart that everyone should do something to make the world more beautiful, and her way of accomplishing that goal was to sow lupin seeds all over the countryside. I think she must have passed through the Maritimes as they certainly are abundant in this area. Lucky us!!
If you'd like to add some lupins to your garden, here are a few tips from Lois Hole's Perennial Favorites. Lupin seed needs to be scarified (scratched or scraped) because it has a hard coat that inhibits germination; the seeds will not sprout until moisture can penetrate the seed coat. If you are going to start the seed indoors, gently scrape the seeds between a folded sheet of medium-grade sandpaper. Sow in February or March, expect germination in 4-5 days. Outdoors, sow as late as possible in fall, even early to mid-November. The action of the frost will break down the hard seed coat. Lupins prefer full sun to partial shade. Lupins dislike acidic soil, so have your soil tested; dolomitic lime is great for sweetening acidic soil. (They do well in poor or alkaline soil.) They also dislike water-logged soil so do not plant them where puddles form from rainfal or spring snowmelt.
Deadheading will extend flowering. Lupins self-seed readily, but the seedlings often revert to purple or white. They are a short-lived perennial, usually losing their vigour after 3-4 years. For a continuous show of flowers in your garden, addd a few new plants every second year. Do not divide- they have a long taproot and don't take well to being moved. They perform well as a cut flower for bouquets, usually lasting 7-10 days after cutting. Deer will not eat lupin so they are a good choice if you have a problem with deer munching on your plants...
I have been out several times in the last week looking for patches of lupins. Laura accompanied me one day as we travelled through New Maryland on the way to Rusagonish (on another "photo mission" - more about that later). Some of these photos are from there, others are from Corn Hill N.B. I hope you will enjoy my photographic efforts...
And to my friend Gail, my "Blogger Support" buddy, whose birthday is today - bouquets of lupins to you, my dear! Happy Birthday!



Peace,
Linda

"The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life."
~ Giraudoux

Wildflower Wednesday...

If you live in the Maritimes, you just gotta love the Lupins! Like many things this spring, they are several weeks early. Usually they would just be coming into bloom right now, but in fact in many places they are almost past their peak already. I just couldn't resist sharing a few photos with you - these were taken very close to my home. If you are familiar with the award-winning children's book "Miss Rumphius" written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, like me you probably think of her each time you see a drift of lupins. I wish there were more people like Miss Rumphius to spread lupin seeds far and wide!

I am glad to say I now have my vegetable garden all planted (yeah!!) and I'm about 98% finished with my annuals. Just a few more to tuck in here and there. Of course, I'm off to Corn Hill Nursery tomorrow with a friend; we've been trying to make our way there for about 10 years now... So who knows, by tomorrow night I may have more stuff to plant.... I like to look for "out of the ordinary" plants, so I'm hoping to find something different there... Like fabric, one can never have too many plants.

Peace,

Linda

"You must do something to make the world more beautiful". ~ Alice Rumphius