Trial: Perennial
Years Trialed: 2003, 2004Good Qualities
Year 1
Great color (3); If it would live here, I would love this plant and color (Zone 6B); Plants were in good shape on arrival, flowered quickly and then died; Good stem length, easy to grow.Problems
Year 1
Lupine is not a great cut as far as longevity; Bloomed too short to use; Not a good perennial here, it would be nice if it perennialized and grew taller; Poor vase life without treatment postharvest with silver, Russell hybrid lupines tended to be short lived, time will tell on this cultivar, it needs to throw more stems to be profitable to grow.Year 2
Grown lupine for years without problems, but these lupine died. It was a very cold winter (Zone 5) without snow cover. Many perennials did not survive for commercial growers and homeowners; Did not survive over winter.Trial Data
Year 1
| Plants flowering (%) | Plants dead at end of summer (%) | Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 56 | 65 | 0.4 | 10.2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 3.8 |
| Range of Responses | 0-100 | 0-100 | 0-2 | 7-24 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 1-3 | 3-4 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Year 2
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | Average Spacing (in2) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | ||||||
| Average | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Range of Responses | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
²1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Year 1
Similar to Russell hybrid lupines; All vegetative growth, plant grew to 10 inches; Grown lot of Lupinus for cuts, this one looks like a Russell ‘My Castle Red’ which we grow easily from seed; I think we are just too hot for this one, if any lived, I may transplant them to a shade area and see how they do; I couldn’t make up my mind about the color, sometimes I liked it because it is different and other times I didn’t like it because it is kind of muddy; Second season will tell, it needs to be hardy and throw more stems.