THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

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Horus
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Re: THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

Post by Horus »

Sounds like you have been busy Fabby, that Golden Rod must be really established, I remember it growing over my head, but then again I was only six. :lol:

LLL, it is a garden plant here and it grows very well and yes it is the same plant, but it has a few variants and one of them is Canadian Golden Rod, but they are a common weed on prairies, and savannas in the Americas.


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Re: THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

Post by FABlux »

Yes another busy day out there but getting there at last. Because the place had been empty for about 5 years everything had run wild but the golden rod had never been over 6' before, I guess it may have been the record breaking hot weather!

The California poppies do get a bit over enthusiastic don't they LLL?
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Re: THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

California Poppies are borderline weeds here too. They haven't quite made the noxious weed category but very few people plant them. 1 will soon flood an entire neighbourhood. They grow extremely well here.

The other plant that we have here that grows wild and everywhere is the Lupine. Our roadways are full of the dark blue to purple lupine. Tons of hybridized colours are sold in the plant nurseries and are so lovely when in full bloom however plant one outside and within a couple years it'll be back to natural dark blue or purple ;)
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Re: THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

Post by Horus »

Probably my most favourite flower is the Lupin and it is interesting what you say about them reverting to the dark blue colour, although they do seem to have this ability to ‘sport’ many colour varieties. Here in the UK the Lupin is not a native plant and I am assuming from what you say that they are a native Canadian plant, I have seen photographs that showed huge swathes of them often growing near lakes and water and have to say they looked beautiful. Our Lupins are what are described as ‘Russell Lupins’ named after a man famous for selectively breeding many coloured hybrids of this flower. What I do know is that they can still sport other colours from the dark blue variety. Many years ago I dug up a couple of the blue coloured plants that were growing on a part of a very old industrial site, one I suspect had not been disturbed much since at least WW2 and I suspect it may have originally been part of a military barracks garden. They had to my knowledge always been blue in colour, but when I took some seeds from the two I had planted and grew them on I finished up with some lovely colours and eventually I had most of the variations you can see in this (not mine) image.

I wonder if it is because the blue is the more dominant colour and once they start to spread naturally the coloured ‘sports’ get crowded out by the more numerous blue colour. It is my belief that if the seeds from any blue Lupin are sown and then allowed to flower you will get lots of colour variation and if you dispense with the common blue then the rest will go on to produce more colour combination variants.
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Re: THE NEW SEASON IN THE GARDEN - 2019

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@Horus Here if you buy Lupin seeds they're all known as "Russell Lupins" and they grow super easily and well and will grow year #1 into whatever colours you buy although typically here they sold as a mix. First year they're more than colorful, second year they're in colour but now the blues will start to creep and by year #4 here they'll all be back to dark blues.

I always just suspected cross pollination by bees & insects as there are so many dark blue ones all over the place and possibly yours grow truer to all the other colours cause you don't have the native wild ones to sway them back to the blue colour.

The roots of a wild lupine are ENORMOUS! You can't hardly dig a wild one out here without digging your way to China. Great huge woody roots.

I don't have them in my own garden but have thought about starting seeds as they are super easy to grow and then basically treat them like an annual if they return to their natural colour.

This past spring my gf and I went to a plant sale and she bought several HUGE and beautifully coloured Lupins (corals & pinks) for her garden. I'll have to remember to talk to her about these and ask her to note the how and where she planted them so she can note next year what colours they come. Might also ask her if she has any seeds from them. She starts about 90% of her plants from seeds so she might also have some lupins (her and her husband have a huge property and they're only into season #3 of gardening it).
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