This post, “Texas Comes to Louisiana” was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana
Here we go again. Always wanting plants that just will not grow in the zones where you live.
Years ago, Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman had a garden television series. On several episodes, Barbara would show her lupins – Russell lupins. They were gorgeous. Such wonderful colors. Such stately plants. I remember she said that there were lupins that would grow anywhere in the country. Unfortunately, lupines usually only grow in zones 6-3. So that left hot, humid zone 8 out of the lupin circle.
Then, I read about Lupinus texensis or the Texas Bluebonnet. Of course, I had heard of and seen pictures of the Texas countryside covered in Bluebonnets, but I didn’t know they were lupins. I resolved to find out about these plants. The seeds must be planted in the fall; they do not like acid soil, and cannot tolerate poorly drained, clay soil. Planting in the fall is not a problem, but, here, the acid and clay soil is. So I had second thoughts. In the fall of 2006, I even bought seeds, but they never made it into the ground.
Well, in the fall of 2007, when my sister and I were on a garden field trip to area nurseries, I found Bluebonnet plants. I was so excited. I only purchased two plants because I was not sure how well they would do. Well, look at the Bluebonnets six months later.
Even though I only planted two plants, that was enough to convince me. Next fall if I can’t find plants, I will plant seeds because I will have bluebonnets in the spring. The Texas Bluebonnet Seed Company looks like the place I’ll use to buy seeds.
Next spring, I may not have as many Bluebonnets as Texas, but there will be a little piece of Texas in a Louisiana garden.
Always Growing 
Brenda Kula said,
April 8, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Well, it looks like it does like your soil after all! I just bought the plants myself this year and stuck them in a pot. Now they’re blooming. After the season I may plant them in the ground, as it was just a little pot. And I went to the Texas Bluebonnet Seed Company website you linked to and will check them out further. I didn’t know they were actually lupines myself until this year! I rarely have much luck with seeds myself.
Brenda
Jan said,
April 8, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I usually have good luck with seeds, but if the bluebonnets don’t do well from seeds, I’ll most likely put in plants. This time it will be more than two.