I forget how I stumbled upon their site, but recently I finally found a much closer source for sundial lupines (Lupinus perennis), which I have written about before. The Wild Seed Project in Maine had sundial seeds available, which is more in line with our budget than buying plants in containers. Nasami Farm is west of us here in Massachusetts and does have sundials, but only in one quart containers. I’ll write more about Nasami Farm in future posts.
When I went to checkout one seed envelope for the sundials, the shipping was twice the cost of the seeds. After conferring with my partner, I added closed gentians (Gentiana clausa) (aka meadow bottle gentian) to the order as well. I’d been wanting the sundials for a long while, so there was an understanding between us that when I found a source closer than the midwest, I’d buy them. Adding the closed gentians bit into our small garden budget, but the cost was small enough not to make too much of a dent.
I still have what turned out to not be a blue variant at all but the white flowered Lupinus albus (aka white lupine or field lupine), but I no longer save seeds for this Mediterranean cultivar. Since reading that the seeds are edible, I have been mildly curious about keeping it around and learning how to cook them. I though I had written a followup last year once that had bloomed and I could better ID it. Might be buried in my draft folder.
The seeds arrived yesterday, and they’re now stashed with the rest of our seeds. I’ll be planting some of each this spring. Whether I see any Blue Karners flitting about as a result? Only time will tell.
