I didn't buy them

[DocAElstein]

Alongside a disused railway line I discovered a couple of years ago, is a marshy field, that turns Purple/Violet this time of the year.
I spoke to a local neighbour who thinks he is the master authority of everything local. He thinks he knows everything, almost always he does..
He said they are always that colour, they always were, and don't come in any other colour...
It was a nice long sunny start of summer evening. After about 3 hours I found amoungst the 20 million Purple/Violet ones, about 20 exceptions, white ones, different shades of pink, a couple close to blue, and one multicoloured one. He doesn't believe me. He thinks I bought them.

[Graeme]

That's a nice collection.

Our lupins have just come out.

Graeme

[ChrisGreaves]

Nice shots!
My neighbour Melvyn, who works for "parks & recreation" or some such, told me that lupins, the wild ones that grow here at least, don't grow true to seed.
By that I think he means that if I grab seeds this year from a purple bloom, next year those seeds may produce red, white, yellow etc blossoms.
That it's randomized genetics.

On the other hand, I am aware of several people in Bonvista who claim to be experts, but who do not try to grow whatever it is they say can't be grown, even while standing alongside my patch of the stuff!
Cheers, Chris
P.S. I noticed the first Lupin shoots here on Thursday, We are a month or so away from blooms. C.

[DocAElstein]

I notice that the local Bees seem very fond of these things. They are a bit stuck in their ways though, they mostly seem to like the standard big Violet/Purple ones. A couple are busy on them just now
(They seem to get a lot out of them, I noticed last year, that even when they were old and ready to be chucked on my big compost hill, that the Bees still seemed to be quite busy on them.)

[stuck]

As already mentioned by Graeme, 'these things' are called lupins.

Ken

[DocAElstein]

Lupinus Perennis

[BobH]

The Texas Bluebonnet is a lupine. Generally it's color is a consistent blue, but botanists at Texas A&M Univ. have developed one that is the exact same maroon shade as the Aggie school colors. I've also seen white ones and the occasional pinkish white one.

I can't seem to find them at the moment, but I'll try to post pics later.

Kadence in Bluebonnets.JPG

[Graeme]

Here's our lupins, don't know what the thing is that grew up next to it, it wasn't there last year! Foxgloves behind and Wisteria behind that.

20230603_201828_EL.jpg

Not sure what's going on with the fence, it doesn't look like that. Maybe it's the effect of digitalis poisoning!

[DocAElstein]

... and I thought my multicoloured blue and white one was the only one, a fluck of nature :( .. oh well, it was the only one in the entire field here...

This is part of "my" Field

Violet Purple Field.JPG

Violet Purple Field.JPG

[DocAElstein]

The Texas Bluebonnet is a lupine. Generally it's color is a consistent blue,.... post pics later....

I am wondering now if my one and only found multicolored blue and white, (the Drupy - Perinus ), one may have sneaked in from another country, ( and not from another planet, as I was thinking), Still makes it special here. I will have to ask Chris how to do a good job with keeping and planting the seeds for next year, I will plant it at home and back near where I got it this year.
( The brown and black one looks very intersting, Bob, the botanists have done wonders with that - it looks to me like a dog! )

[BobH]

LOL

Taking portraits among the bluebonnets in Spring is a Texas ritual. That beauty was my daughter's pet who, sadly, died of cancer several years ago. Her name was Kadence (yeah, spelled wrong, I know).

[ChrisGreaves]

Her name was Kadence (yeah, spelled wrong, I know).

But appropriately named for this thread.
Canis lupus
Cheers, Chris