Silky Lupine Seeds (Lupinus sericeus)

Silky lupine shows up where the soil is thin, the sun relentless, and ancient stories are written upon the landscape. Its silver-soft leaves catch the light like static in the air, with spikes of blue-violet (and sometimes white) flowers rising up…defiant, luminous, unmistakably alive.

This is a plant for open ground, for gravelly slopes, for places written off as “nothing will grow there.” It thrives in full sun, in drought, in neglect. With all of this glorious tenacity, silky lupine establishes itself from Western Canada to Arizona, and from California to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

This is an actively visited plant by long-tongued bumble bees, and a caterpillar host plant for many butterflies, such as the Persius Duskywing (Erynnis persius), the Sooty Hairstreak (Satyrium fuliginosum), the Arrowhead Blue (Glaucopsyche piasus), the Melissa Blue (Plebejus melissa), the Western Sulphur (Colias occidentalis), the Afranius Duskywing (Erynnis afranius), Boisduval’s Blue (Plebejus icarioides), Queen Alexandra’s Sulphur (Colias alexandra), as well as quite a few moth species.

Silky lupine is an excellently deer-resistant plant, integrating very well into ornamental landscapes just as easily as natural areas – just put it somewhere well-drained and sunny. Seeds benefit from scarification for germination. 

40+ Seeds (1.0 grams).