With their towering spikes and jewel-like colours, lupins are a cottage garden favourite. Flowering from late spring into summer, these hardy perennials attract pollinators while anchoring summer borders.
But even the most impressive summer displays eventually fade. When the last blooms have passed, many gardeners wonder how to care for their lupins now.
From cutting back spent flower spikes to preparing plants for the year ahead, here’s what to do with lupins after flowering...
1. Remove faded flower spikes
Once lupins have finished flowering, the flower spikes turn brown and dry. For border lupins, the RHS recommends cutting "the spent flower spikes to the base to encourage more to be produced," which keeps thew plant looking tidy and may encourage further flowering.
2. Deadhead for a possible second flush of flowers
Deadheading is not just about keeping borders tidy. According to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, cutting lupins back after flowering “may encourage a second flush of flowers”, giving some plants the chance to produce more blooms later in the summer.
3. Decide whether to leave lupin seed heads
After flowering, lupins will naturally begin to form seed pods if faded flower spikes are left in place. The RHS notes that lupins can be propagated from seed, but plants grown this way may not always retain the same characteristics as the parent plant.
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If you want to collect seeds, allow the pods to develop and harvest them once they have dried. Otherwise, removing faded spikes keeps the plant looking tidier and may encourage further flowering.
4. Propagate lupins after flowering
Lupins can be propagated by taking cuttings or growing from seed, but the two methods produce different results. Cuttings produce plants identical to the parent, so they'll always match. Seed, however, is unpredictable: as BBC Gardeners' World Magazine explains, "Lupins do not come true to type from seed, so lupins grown from seed are likely to flower in a mix of colours."
If you want guaranteed colour and form, cuttings are the safer bet. If you're comfortable with variation in your borders, seed is cheaper and easier, and those unexpected combinations can be part of the garden's charm.
How do you prepare lupins for winter and next year’s flowers?
Once autumn arrives and foliage dies back, you can trim away the old growth if you prefer a tidy garden. According to the RHS, most lupins are hardy in a British winter if grown in free-draining soil in a sunny spot.
However, the RHS warns that lupins dislike prolonged winter wet, so avoid waterlogged soil over the colder months. With good drainage and plenty of sun, lupins can return each year as a colourful feature of the summer border.
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