Sowing lupins is very easy and always works. It doesn't matter whether you collect seeds yourself from plants already growing in the garden or buy seeds from a gardening store. You will soon be able to enjoy the magnificent sea of flowers.
How do you sow lupins correctly?
Lupins can be sown directly outdoors in spring or early autumn. Water the seeds beforehand, sow them in rows or individually and press them 2-3 cm deep into the soil. Keep the seed sites moist and 50 cm apart between plants.
How to sow lupins correctly
- Sowing in spring or early autumn
- Sow in rows or individually
- Water seeds beforehand
- Sowing lupins directly outdoors
You can't really go wrong when sowing lupins. It works best if you sow the seeds directly on site in early spring. If you missed the sowing date, you can still sow the perennial lupins at the end of August.
Keep a distance of at least 50 centimeters between the plants, as lupine plants tend to spread out a bit.
Lupins are dark germinators. Either draw rows two to three centimeters deep or press the seed just as deep into the soil. Keep the seed sites well moist. Once the plants have reached a height of around 20 centimeters, you only need to water if the soil has dried out too much.
Sowing in pots
If you don't know exactly where you want to plant your new lupins, you can also prefer them in a pot.
Fill the pots with soil that should not be too nutritious. Sow three seed bodies per pot. Keep the seeds well moist, but avoid waterlogging. Place the pots in a warm, sunny spot until the seeds germinate.
As soon as the plants have emerged, pinch off the two weaker seedlings. After just four weeks you can plant the lupins in the desired location in the garden.
Sowing lupins yourself or dividing perennials?
You can't just propagate lupins by sowing them. Older perennials can also be divided if the plants have become too large.
The advantage of sowing lupins is that you are guaranteed to receive pure varieties. This is not always guaranteed when dividing perennials.
Growing new lupins from cuttings
You can also get new perennials by propagating them from cuttings. For this purpose, so-called basal cuttings are cut.
These cuttings appear in the middle of the mother plant in spring. They are cut as soon as they reach ten centimeters in height.
The cuttings are then placed in a growing container with growing soil (€6.00 at Amazon). There they develop roots within six weeks and are then placed in individual pots. They come into the garden in autumn. Be careful not to bend or damage the very long roots when transplanting.
Tips & Tricks
Lupins tend to self-seed. If you don't want to keep lupins everywhere in the garden, you should cut off the finished panicles in good time. Caution: The seeds are poisonous and should be disposed of or stored safely.
