Rhymes With Fuchsia

Friday, June 20, 2008

Friday Flowers: Loopy for Lupines


The roadsides of Maine do not lack for lupines at this time of year: you see them everywhere, along the interstates and along back roads as well. Most of them are blue, a few are white, and a pink one sneaks in there now and then.


I don't remember ever seeing them until maybe five years ago, which makes me wonder if they too are an invasive species that someone thought would be nice to plant here and there, and before you knew it they were everywhere.


I quite like them, though, especially the blue-purple ones. In my mind they've become associated with Fiber Frolic, and a weekend with lupines and llamas is a wonderful thing.

posted by Lucia at 3:25 PM

9 Comments:

  • That last picture is stunning! The few whites, amongst the field of blues....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:44 PM  

  • They've definitely been around in Maine for a long time. When I was at college in Bar Harbor, more years ago than I want to remember, there were lupines all over every spring.

    Great photos! It's things like that which make me miss Maine.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:28 PM  

  • We first became aware of lupines after reading Miss Rumphius (http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Rumphius-Barbara-Cooney/dp/0670479586), and now we have some in our garden. Love them!

    By Blogger Ruth, at 5:56 PM  

  • My mom's property has a whole hillside of lupines in all three colors. It's so pretty! She's got some lady's slippers in her woods, too.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:30 PM  

  • I believe that lupines are native up and down the US east of the Mississippi all the way to parts of Canada. (Says she who used to volunteer with the groups attempting to erradicate invasives)

    By Blogger Julie, at 9:12 PM  

  • Dale and I went to Maine for our honeymoon and the lupine were in full bloom everywhere. They always remind me of that wonderful week. There's a children's book called Miss Rumphius and it's about a woman who planted lupine all throughout the state of Maine. It's probably fiction but it's a sweet story.

    By Blogger Carole Knits, at 7:50 AM  

  • Don't'cha just love hardy lovely weeds?

    By Blogger roxie, at 9:46 AM  

  • i love lupines! we first met in sweden and they grow wild in alaska in the higher elevations. last year i tried to lure some to my flowerbed, but they escaped. this year we kidnapped some to brighten up the gravel beds. they seem to like disturbed, gravelly areas. you took some wonderful portraits of them!

    By Blogger the boogeyman's wife, at 7:48 PM  

  • Maybe Maine has stopped mowing highway verges, or at least parts of them, like they do in MA so that the lupines now have a chance to bloom

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:17 PM  

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