Lupine
Lupinus polyphyllus · Popular
Dense, pea-flowered spires in almost every colour, often two-toned, above handsome fingered leaves in early summer. It needs cool summers and acid, well-drained soil.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 20 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late May to early July
- Pets
- Toxic (mild)
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around lupine
The planner designed this bed around lupine when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why lupine stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Lupine × 4, blue
- 2 Creeping phlox 'Candy Stripe' × 5, pink
- 3 Carpathian bellflower × 5, white
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 5 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Columbine meadow rue × 3, lavender
- 7 Red spider lily × 10, red
- 8 Star of Persia × 5, purple
Why this plant
- The only spires. The others are open bowls, bells, daisies and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only blue.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is among the tallest plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to inkberry 'Gem Box' (2½ ft) and brown-eyed Susan (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 4 plants in 2 places. An accent is a punctuation mark: the repeat along the bed gives it rhythm.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late May to early July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With Carpathian bellflower, columbine meadow rue and star of Persia in late June: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as a cottage garden: 21 of the 21 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The back corners are held by lupine and brown-eyed Susan, the tallest plants on the plan. Carpathian bellflower and creeping phlox 'Candy Stripe' finish the front edge.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where lupine goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
The great vertical of June in cool climates. It fails in hot, humid summers and lives only a few years anywhere, so sow replacements. It has spread from gardens into the wild in parts of the Northeast.
- Spires for the early-summer cottage border
- Cool-climate gardens
- Cut flowers
What to plant with lupine
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Oriental poppy: blue against orange, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for five weeks; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
- Bearded iris: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for four weeks.
- Peony: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
Choosing between it and a look-alike? Delphinium vs Lupine.
Questions about lupine
Does lupine need sun or shade?
Lupine grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does lupine grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does lupine flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to early July. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 4 | Late May to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late May to early July |
| Zone 6 | Mid May to early July |
| Zone 7 | Early May to late June |
| Zone 8 | Early May to late June |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should lupine be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 20 in (50 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (100 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many lupine plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used four in two groups.
Is lupine poisonous to dogs and cats?
Yes: mild toxicity to people, dogs, cats and horses. Poisonous only if eaten in quantity. The seeds are the most poisonous part.
Is there a pet-safe plant like lupine?
These come closest to doing what lupine does, and no toxicity is recorded for them:
- Maltese cross: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers mid June to mid July, red, not blue.
- Meadow sage 'Caradonna': the same job in a bed and the same flowering time; belongs in the middle, not at the back, 16 in shorter.
- Showy goldenrod: the same job in a bed; 8 in taller, flowers late August to mid October.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
Will lupine spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Short-lived, but keeps going by self-seeding. Thin or move seedlings where they are not wanted.
What flowers after lupine?
Lupine is over by early July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Daylily: from late June to early August, 2½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Bee balm: from early July to early August, 3 ft tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does lupine look like in winter?
Lupine dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Lupinus
- Lupine Gallery Series Lupinus (Gallery Series)
- Wild lupine Lupinus perennis
In these guides
- Garden plants toxic to cats
- Garden plants toxic to dogs
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants with spires: vertical accents
- Plants with blue flowers
- Plants for a white garden
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3½ ft (100 cm) tall, 20 in (50 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late May to early July; upright spires; blue, purple, pink, red, yellow, white
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
Checked against VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.