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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Guide to Native Plants of Georgia for Wildlife < Lupinus perennis
Sundial Lupine, unlike its more famous leguminous relatives the Baptisias, is virtually unknown in American native plant gardening. However, the plant has great stopping power in its exceptional foliage and large, deeply blue flower spikes. In many ways, such as its tolerance of drought and poor or rocky soils, it exceeds the Baptisias. Sadly, the natural range of this species has declined with the conversion of Longleaf Pine savannahs into farmland, timber plantations, or developments. Its rarity has markedly increased, and may be the cause of its disappearance from gardening. Seeds and plant parts should not be collected or transplanted from wild stock for any reason, and could easily undermine the survival of this excellent and beautiful plant.
As a legume, Sundial Lupine is important to add nutrition back to the depleted soils of the South that have been so heavily farmed and eroded by cotton. They are delicate and beautiful plants, holding interest the entire growing season. They begin with foliage like the hands of a clock, followed by brilliantly blue flower spikes, and finally topped off with an array of chubby, inflated, rustling seed pods.
Good companion plants include Purple and Pale Coneflower, Rudbeckias, Black Locust, Honeylocust, white, yellow, or blue-flowered Baptisias, native palms (Sabal palmetto, Dwarf Palmetto, Needle Palm, Saw Palmetto), Longleaf Pines, and native grasses.
Fabaceae/Leguminosae (Bean/Legume)
A medium-sized herbaceous perennial legume. Stems are erect and thinly pubescent. Leaves are palmately compound with short 2-6 cm long petioles. Leaflets are 7-11 in number, oblanceolate, and range between 2-6 cm long. Flowers occur in upright, elongated terminal racemes above the plant’s foliage. Flowers are numerous, pea-shaped, and range from blue or occasionally white or even pink. Fruits are pubescent pods that are oblong, flattened, and contain 2 or more 3-5 cm bean-shaped seeds.
4-6 feet tall and 2 feet wide
A tall herbaceous perennial
Fast
Full sun to partial sun
Sundial Lupine can be rot-prone, especially as a young seedling. Plant in full sun with impeccable air circulation. In clay soils, use raised beds or at least 6” high mounds as planting sites. Till the soil before planting to aid aeration. Plants are extremely drought tolerant and also tolerate poor, sandy, or gravely soils. It is hardy from USDA Zones 3-11.
The ornamental value of this species is exceptional. Assets include the reddish stems, the wonderfully lobed foliage, and the massive blue flower spikes. It attracts a wide variety of insect life to the garden.
Sundial Lupine works well in a sunny native plant garden and fulfills the role of a leafy shrub. Its flowers are best offset by planting it against a wall or taller plants. Lower-growing native wildflowers and grasses are excellent companion plants. Blue False Indigo also pairs well with it.
Sundial Lupine is the only food for the larvae of the Karner Blue butterfly, native to the Great Lakes region of the U.S. In Georgia, the sundial lupine is an important larval food for the equally beautiful Frosted Elfin butterfly. Fire suppression and habitat loss due to timbering, agriculture, and development have all contributed to the drastic decline of the this diminutive species. It has subsequently become nearly extinct over most of its original range. The foliage is occasionally browsed by deer, while the nectar of the flowers feeds a variety of butterflies, moths, and bees.
Native to all states east of the Mississippi as well as from Texas to Minnesota. Preferred habitats include pine and oak savannahs, dry upland woods, open piney woods, and clearings.
Scarified seeds
Also known as Wild Lupine,
Blue Pea,
Indian Beans,
Perennial Lupine,
Quaker’s Bonnet
Text by Kevin Tarner, Georgia Wildlife Federation
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