This is my lupine!
I’ve only got the one. And I am pretty pleased about it.
We raise our birds on pasture. As you might expect, we spend a lot of time squinting at the field, trying to figure out what’s growing where, and how to manage it. Maybe a month or so back, I spotted a little, lone green mound rising above the rest of the grasses which surrounded it. So I checked it out and have been watching it every since.
Well, it’s blooming now.
And it’s pretty. Plus, it fixes atmospheric nitrogen and pumps phosphorus up from down deep in the soil. So when the plant tissues ultimately break down, they improve the soil. It’s good for bugs too– with nectaries as a food source, it also provides shelter for lacewings and parasitoid wasps.
So we’ll be keeping the birds out of it, keeping an eye on it, and hopefully saving some seeds for next year…