Monday, May 10, 2010

Sky Blue Lupine - Lupinus diffusus

Sky blue lupine (Lupinus diffusus) is one of Florida's most beautiful wildflowers.  It is found nearly statewide in sandy well-drained uplands and in our neighboring states throughout the Deep South.  It is extremely sensitive to growing conditions and its distribution is restricted only to those areas with the proper soils and high light.  It also responds quickly to soil disturbances and prescribed fire.  Its seed can lie dormant for years waiting to be released.  When this happens, large areas can become dominated by this lupine - for a few years. 
Sky blue lupine is a very short-lived perennial.  From my experience, it rarely lives beyond about three years after germination.  The first year is spent as a non-flowering seedling while a few flowers occur in year two.  In the third year, individual plants may be several feet across and up to two feet tall.  At this size (as those plants pictured above), the entire plant seems to be covered in sky blue flowers.  Most of these plants, set large numbers of seed and then die by fall.
Sky blue lupine is unique among our native lupines.  Although most have lanceolate leaves covered by silky hairs, others tend to have pink or deep purple blooms.  The foliage is evergreen, though it often is eaten by moth caterpillars and may almost disappear for times due to this.  Flowering occurs in February through March.
As beautiful as this wildflower is, sky blue lupine is unlikely to be offered in the trade to home gardeners.  It is exceedingly difficult to grow in pots, for one.  Though I have worked with this plant for years and get most seeds to germinate, very few live past the first leaf phase.  Those that do, do not do well in pots for very long and need to be transplanted into the garden.  At this stage, most simply die as they "hate" to be moved.  But, I have had some that lived, flowered and produced seed - and these were magnificent.  If you have the right soil for lupines, and you love them as much as I do, you may wish to frustrate yourself with one of Florida's greatest wildflower gardening challenges...  If you succeed, the effort will be well worth it and if you don't, you will join countless others.  At least you will have company.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info. I live in Citronelle florida(outside of Crystal River) and have two patches of this beautiful flower in the outskirts of my woods. It took several people to try and figure out what it was. We have lived here 5 years and have never seen it before and this year they just popped up. your site was very informative

    Jenifer Robinson 727-543-9445

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  2. Finally. I find pictures of what I have been seeing for the last several years blooming on the side of the road. As a note, it's April 25th and they're still blooming. I live in NW Florida, Santa Rosa county.
    Now I have to get some seeds.

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  3. If you live in Sanata Rosa, make sure that what you are seeing is L. diffusus and not L. westianus - which is a listed species. I do not have photos of westianus - have not seen it in bloom, but the flowers are pinkish and the plants grow in coastal dunes. Take a look at the photos on the USF site: http://www.florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=1078

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  4. I would like to try and establish a plot of these. I have several spots on 5 acres. If any seed availible please email dtflaaquascape@gmail.com Thanks Dan...

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  5. I found several clusters that have gone to seed in the field across the street from me. I am in Panama City. They are quite beautiful when they bloom!

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  6. Thank you for th excellent information on this lovely, if finicky plant! I recently moved to central Gulf coast Florida and have found several clumps of these beauties in different spots on and near my property. I am so glad now that I decided to leave them where they were, rather than trying to transplant them! What I will do, instead, is wait for my existing seed pods to ripen, and attempt to start fresh clumps in my garden area in conditions as similar as possible to where the parents currently are blooming. Such lovely plants!

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    1. Thanks for your info on these wildflowers. I have been seeing them on sandy ridges in north Mobile County, AL and wondered what sort of lupine they were. They are so beautiful!

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  7. Dang it! Just this afternoon, I pulled one from the ground, instinctively put it back, then couln't resist myself and brought it home. I was amazed at seeing it grow on a patch of white sand. So, what can i do to increase the chances of survival in a plant pot? This was near USF area, on a nature preserve, and oh, what beauty!!

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    1. You collected a plant from a
      NATURE PRESERVE???!!! Why do you think it is called a PRESERVE??!! What you did is unethical, may be illegal and probably killed the plant. Thanks a bunch for taking this specimen so others could not enjoy it. FYI, https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herbarium/collperm/.

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  8. You will never get one to grow that way. Lupines hate to be moved and their special root systems won't tolerate even a careful transplant unless you are extremely lucky. And.......... they need to be grown in pure sand - not the sandy soil most folks have in their landscapes. Appreciate lupines for their beauty - unless you have pure scrub sand, you will not be able to grow them and they do not tolerate being in pots - under any circumstances.

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  9. I have seen several patches of these blue flowers this spring in the Citrus and Hernando County areas.....always growing in a dry sandy wash area. March 2015

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  10. I collected some seed from two individual lupinus diffusus plants, growing with other typical dry sandy wildflowers along a road in Nassau County, before a utility company came along, mowed, and then sprayed with broadleaf herbicide. The facts presented by you are really comforting, as I now realize these plants would probably have died this winter anyway, and would not have survived transplanting to save them. So now my question is would you like me to mail you some seeds? And do you have any tips for prepping them (abrasion, freezing, stratification) before I scatter some in my sandy scrub soil and wait patiently for something to happen?

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