This is my 3 year for this plant and the first year it bloomed. I have 2 other plants. One of the other ones is ready to bloom and the flower is a different color. I can’t wait to see what color it will be. The third plant looks like it is not going to bloom this year.
The name
of the genus, Lupinus, comes from the Latin word for wolf, lupus. People used
to believe the plant “wolfed up” soil nutrients. Turns out that it actually
adds nitrogen to the soil through the work of bacteria on its root nodes.
Farmers use it as a cover crop to increase field nitrogen levels.
Have
you ever seen the Karner
Blue Butterfly? It is a gorgeous butterfly. Karner Blues have been on
the federal endangered species list since 1992. The only host plant for Karner
Blue caterpillars, the wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis), is declining
in numbers, and the population of Karner Blues is declining with them.
Blue lupine leaves are a necessary food source for the
caterpillars of the endangered Karner blue butterfly. Named by author Vladimir
Nabokov, this insect hatches from eggs laid the previous year on the host
plants. After their springtime emergence, they turn into short-lived
butterflies that deposit eggs on blue lupines to produce the second generation
of the season, according to The Nature Conservancy. These summertime
butterflies are the ones that lay the overwintering eggs. To help the Karner
blues recover, conservationists are restoring blue lupine habitats.
Here are two great
articles about these
Karner Blue Butterfly.
Today is Outdoor
Wednesday. Please check out these other great blogs at A Southern Daydreamer.
2 comments:
I tried lupine once with no luck. Yours is beautiful..I did not know about the Kaner Blue Butterly using it as a host plant.
I have tried to grow Lupine several time and just have no luck with them. Yours is just gorgeous!
Post a Comment