Chick Lupine (Lupinus microcarpus)

Pink, white, lavender, and yellow…unlikely pastel hues make up this unlikely flower, like a confectionary scattering of colors. This is chick lupine, in its low-growing, sprawling annual glory.

Found from southern Vancouver Island, all the way to Chile, it sometimes appears as a loner, an isolated plant on a sunny coastal bluff. In other cases, it sticks around in colonies, re-appearing year after year, especially where the soil is thin and harder for larger perennials to dominate.

At its maximum potential, chick lupine might reach 2-feet of height. More often however you’ll find it remaining a more compact 6 to 8-inches. Bumble bees of course visit the flowers. And quite the many lepidoptera enjoy it as a caterpillar host plant. Quail eat the seeds; they are unbothered by the lupine’s alkaloids which dissuade various other foraging creatures.

We are enamored by the color variation and dreamy palette. Combined with other low growing vegetation, it forms a kind of textured ground cover dappled in spring color.

Plant this in your sunniest spot with the thinnest soil, but supply it with ample water. A rock garden will also do. Combine with springbank clover (as in the first photo) for a layered, multi-color effect.

25+ seeds (1.0-grams).