If you have made the decision to rearrange your garden and move your precious lupins to a different spot then you need to make sure you do it at the right time. But what is the right time to move lupins? Let me help you out.
When to move lupins
I strongly advocate for moving lupins in the autumn. October is a common month for moving lots of perennial plants and is the perfect time to move lupins. There are a few reasons I have for this so let me run you through some of them.
To start with this is the natural end of your lupin’s annual cycle anyway and they will be starting to die back before too long. This should mean that the plant is at its maximum for stored energy deep in its roots which will be crucial for helping the plant bounce back.
It is also often wet here in the UK in the autumn and this helps transplanted plants out massively. No matter how cautious you are you will damage the roots when you transplant a lupin. This will mean they need more water than normal in order to support themselves as they won’t be able to suck as much moisture up from the ground.
How to move lupins
If your lupin still has lots of green leafy growth on it then you will want to remove lots of this before transplanting it. This growth will be hard for the plant to maintain once moved and will end up hindering it rather than helping it.
before digging your lupins give them a good soak, a nice rainy day is actually the perfect time to move a lupin as the rain will keep everything nice and wet for you.
Dig a large area around the base of the lupin and gently pull it up, aiming to keep as much of the root structure intact as possible.
Then dig a large hole wherever you are planning on moving the lupin to. Once dug give the hole a really good soaking before planting your lupin. After that fill the hole around the lupin with compost and gently press down the soil around the plant with your feet.
More on Lupins
Lupins are a beautiful flower that you will find in many British gardens. Lupins are a staple of British cottage gardens, famed for both their height and colour. Originally hailing from the Mediterranean they are a perennial that will greet you with a gorgeous display year after year.
They produce a large flowering spike that is full of colour and each plant can have lots of these spikes leading to a fabulous display. They will begin to flower around may and can last well into June. The flowers do go to seed quite quickly but your lupin will continue to produce more and more new spikes.
To get the best out of these spikes though it is essential to deadhead the old spikes to give the new ones a chance to flourish. Also cutting your lupins back in autumn can help them the following spring. The seeds are edible but if not treated properly first they can be poisonous to animals and humans. Greenfly can be a common problem for lupins here in the UK.