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

[DocAElstein]

Am I first this year? On the regular staggering fast walks that I still like to call jogging, I have been monitoring the field that soon turns into a sea of Lupines. It’s not quite there yet, but I noticed a few in places sharing the properties of probably those unusual local conditions favouring an early appearance and the property of impossible to get at. So I risked my life climbing down a steep old railway viaduct embankment wall thing to get a few, half of which were surprisingly the otherwise rare Pink and white ones. Not the best yet, or prettiest shots yet, but the first, maybe?

First Lupinen from Railway, 2024.JPG

Talking about white things: Something very notably unusual this year in my garden. Amongst the mostly Purple Lilac trees, a small patch of white ones in the middle, just like any white ones the neighbours have, come and go usually the quickest and seem to have it difficult compared to the more predominant common Purple ones. No exception by the neighbours this year, but mine are spreading and refusing to die a week after there is no trace of any other Lilac tree flowers in the neighbourhood. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that late last year I buried around and amongst them the cold end snaking pipe arrangement of a self-made heat exchanger that has been keeping me warm this winter. It’s a rather crude arrangement, works well but I can’t really regulate it: it’s either on or off. It’s like powering up an old steam engine to get it going and I have not quite figured out the best way to turn it off safety. An attempt could be like that attempt at Chernobyl and it could go either way, - my old Physics knowledge is a bit rusty. In the meantime I seem to be inadvertently helping to save the planet from global warming as my garden seems to be turning into permafrost, and I have created some spreading Triffid - Zombie like white Lilac tree mutation

White Lilac tree mutations zombies.JPG

[DocAElstein]

"My" Lupine Field has not quite transformed to a sea of Purple yet, as we had constant mild but extremely wet weather over the last weeks, ( quite bad again in places with severe flooding, here in Germany :( ). However I keep finding untypical colours in the first few early flowers that have been brave enough to pop up in a few odd untypical corners, - I guess the odd untypical very local environment in a few corners and steep almost inaccessible slopes leads to slightly different growing characteristics…. – a few days ago I think I may have discovered a few Albino Lupins. Pale yellow, although they are changing a bit already, possibly they are some Chameleous Albinus variant
https://i.postimg.cc/yYFzm59Y/Yellow-Lupins.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/Xq56D1zL/Yellow-Lupins-2024.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/jjhVpJvV/Gelb-Lupinen.jpg

Yellow Lupins 2024.JPG

( The yellow ones in the pics are the Lupines (Yellow Chameleous Albinus Lupinous). I put them in the same bucket with some things that go through their "Lupine phase" this time of the year, - not sure if they are some very late snow drops or early Sun Flowers ;) :) )




Although "my" Lupine Field is still holding out for that burst of constant sun to transform it into a sea of Purple and Lilac, the heavy rain has caused some amazing transformations it the more weedy type green vegetation in some areas of the countryside here.
Very welcome in one case. I won’t ever go into the full details ever, but I did some "landscape" work early in the year, which amongst other things has given a very welcome natural new supply of water for some trees any my Potato planting experiment from a few weeks ago
I was not so keen to attract attention, as I did not want people to see my potatoes, amongst other things ….. but nature has done an amazing job in just the last two weeks to hide everything.
There always is a major transformation to green everywhere this time of the year, but it has been very extreme in a few areas here this year due to the sudden extreme wetness.
In the following pics on the right was a few days after I started the excavations. Less than two weeks ago when I looked there was a bit of green staring to appear to give me some hope that nature might be kind to help hide my activities.
Last night I was overjoyed to discover how it now has transformed,

Meine Grabung ist schon voellig zugewachsen.JPG

June 2024 - - - February 2024.JPG

All very beautiful now.

[GeoffW]

I've been left out of things, not being able to post pictures of spring flowers. But I've finally been in a position to be able to post something from spring.

(I'm sorry, I didn't grow these, and they're nothing compared to Doc's).

20240531_104102_copy_800x450.jpg

20240531_102716_copy_563x1000.jpg

[HansV]

Shanghai?

[GeoffW]

Shanghai?

Yes

[DocAElstein]

An extremely Beautiful Chinese Wall, that one.
( My very first Lupine pic from this time last year was my first attempt at making a vertical Mud wall of mine less ugly, after I had shored it up neatly with a strong old green metal fence. - The start of the Bavarian Great Wall of Alan, to help defend me from the local annoying Beamtes (Town officials) )

[stuck]

...https://i.postimg.cc/yYFzm59Y/Yellow-Lupins.jpg.

The yellow flowers in that image are not lupins (or for those of you that insist on using the US spelling) nor are they lupines. They are antirrhinums:
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/69565/ant ... us/details

...https://i.postimg.cc/Xq56D1zL/Yellow-Lupins-2024.jpg

Nor are the yellow flowers in your second link lupins. Those ones are verbascum:
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/18799/ver ... um/details

Hope this helps,

Ken

[DocAElstein]

Thanks, it does, seriously - that is interesting. Really. I did have my suspicions. I also did think you or someone here would put me straight.
I also did remember you setting me straight on the spelling before as well. Maybe something is wrong in my spelling checker in my MS Word. I have it set to English GB , but for some reason it insists on changing or recommending my Lupin be changed to Lupine ??


As you may remember, my garden has a history of having strange mutations, ( I suppose I had better say it before anyone else – me being one of them, Lol.) - I like to keep an open mind about these things, but I expect you could be right… But does no harm to think occasionally a bit laterally though, JIMHO. When I first saw them I thought … Aha, some new Yellow strain of Lupin/Lupine there. They will have a very strong natural survival instinct, especially as they are new and stand out, and they will not want to be picked by someone collecting Lupins/Lupines . I bet they are trying to disguise themselves as something similar ( I don’t know what, but I expect Ken or someone will set me straight if I post in the Scuttlebutt ).

Maybe this time I am not right. But having that extra bit of open mindedness got me some novel very profitable solutions sometimes in the distant past. Sadly, got me a bit of undeserved hate along the way as well, :(
It does no harm to tolerate a bit of wild dreaming, JIMHO, as long as you are not driving at the time or doing anything else that might hurt anyone at the time.
:)

But good to know what they may be. I could have Googled, but it’s sometimes more pleasant when someone chips in, :)
- A lady a few doors along has taken to photographing some of my untypical things growing in the last few years, so as to inform me of what they are. Very pleasant, :)



If I see any more of these strange occurrences, I will post a pic of it in its native environment to show how the little devils try to deceive me.
There is something new appearing just now, in the occupied safety zone in front of my garden fence . I could have taken it as a monsterous Lupinous , but I am not falling for that one. It’s no Lupin or Lupine. It’s a new smaller variation of the walking Blue Triffids that extend in a few weeks time to 2-3meter high, then in the night they go walk about, dropping their seed so they sprout up next year a few meters further along.
(The Originals I planted, (seeded), only seem to pop up every two years, - they came last year,
https://i.postimg.cc/QC1kk7Kd/01-Triffi ... -Fence.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xCkP8h0H/02-Triffids-June-2023.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/hjH1dsjY/03-Bees-And-Alan-Wees.jpg
, they are not there this year, the remans are still there. Or the skin they shed at the end of the season.... .
https://i.postimg.cc/Nj4DzRJy/CIMG9587.jpg
.....I guess they go to hunt or graze somewhere else every second year)

Monsterous Lupinous.JPG