For the Love of Lupine

Boasting tall, blossom-bursting stems and eye-catching hues of pinks, purples, and white, the luscious lupine is a stunning showstopper for any botanical enthusiast. Blooming throughout New England fields during the weeks of late May to mid-June, lupine season has become a time of celebrated beauty in New Hampshire that attracts tourists year after year, most specifically to the northern town of Sugar Hill where their prevalence is unmatched. Photographers and plant lovers alike flock to the town's annual Celebration of Lupine (facebook.com/LupineCelebration) and eagerly await the arrival of first blooms, always dependent to some degree on Mother Nature's whims. Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill is a local landmark both for breakfast and brunch, as well as its brilliant backdrop of lupine. Group tours are also available for visitors through visitwhitemountains.com. However, according to the UNH Cooperative Extension, the lupine we most often see today is a naturalized and non-native species from the western U.S. known as either bigleaf lupine or the related ornamental Russell hybrid. Both had arrived here in the northeast by the early or mid-1900s and were often used for road stabilization due to their ability to thrive in poor soil. Although beautiful, they are closely observed and monitored as a potentially invasive species due to their impressive ability to rapidly spread through seed production. Interestingly, although the non-naive lupine species can provide pollen for pollinators, it is unable to be a larval host plant for any butterfly or moth species, while the native sundial lupine is the sole host plant for the state's endangered state butterfly, the Karner blue. Additionally, bigleaf lupines will often hybridize with sundial lupines through cross-pollination, and the hybrid plants are also unusable for Karner blue caterpillars. That said, UNH Cooperative Extension reports conservation efforts are being enacted to hopefully retain sundial populations in natural habitats near Concord. To assist with these endeavors, the extension's Master Gardeners urge backyard gardeners to focus on planting sundial lupine utilizing sustainably sourced seeds or non-hybridized plants. Have you ever read the award-winning book "Miss Rumphius" by author Barbara Cooney? As the story goes, Miss Alice Rumphius, also known as the "Lupine Lady," traveled the world and then brought back lupine to Coastal Maine where she planted it to make the world "a more beautiful place." In fact, the 1982 picture book is the true story of Hilda Edwards, a woman who did scatter lupine seeds on Maine's coast after travelling the world and then settling in the Christmas Cove area of South Bristol, Maine. While historians say the believed dates of the lupine's arrival in the northeast don't quite line up precisely with the lifespan of Miss Ruphius, there is some truth in the fact that the first lupine seeds may have been originally imported from Europe until they began to spread here on their own. While it's certainly worth the road trip, you don't have to drive to Sugar Hill for beautiful views of lupine. As was mentioned previously regarding its use in road stabilization, lupine plants have been planted by highway crews in areas along I-93, as well as being visible along many other highly traveled interstates and roadways nearby. Some of the Monadnock Region locations for catching sight of this flower include NH Route 12 North in Keene and Walpole, along Route 9 North near Roxbury and Sullivan, as well as Route 124 between Marlborough and Jaffrey, looking toward Mount Monadnock. Additionally, privately owned fields and properties are often flecked with purple and pink this time of year and can be seen full of lupine blooms mixing with the white petals of daisies. It's a certainty that Miss Rumphius would be thrilled at the public's ongoing infatuation with lupine and its everlasting ability to make the world a more beautiful place.