Lupin 'Festival Mixed' Seeds

• Lupins are easy to maintain, although protection from slugs and aphids may be necessary when the plants are young.
• For pleasing results plant in drifts through ornamental grasses or arrange in odd-numbered clumps of 3 or 5 in your beds, borders and pots.

How to grow Lupin ‘Festival Mixed’

• Lupins prefer to be grown in full sun with some afternoon shade to protect them from hot, midday sun. Grow in any soil as long as it is free draining and rich in organic matter.
• Sow indoors, January to March, to flower the same year, 0.5cm (¼in) deep, in a tray of compost. A temperature of 15-20°C (60-68°F) is ideal. Keep moist. Seedlings usually appear in 21-42 days. Transplant individually when large enough to handle to 8cm (3in) pots. (Always hold seedlings by a leaf, never by the stem.) Gradually accustom young plants to outside conditions before planting out 60cm (24in) apart, when frosts are over.
• Or sow outdoors, April to July, to flower the following year, in a seed bed, 0.5cm (¼in) deep, into finely prepared soil that has already been watered. Thin seedlings to 5cm (2in) apart before planting out to their final flowering position in the autumn, spacing 60cm (24in) apart.

Aftercare

• Water lupins well and regularly for the first few months after planting.
• Keep the area free from competing weeds.
• Apply a generous layer of mulch around the base of the plant after planting and thereafter annually to keep the roots cool.
• Lupins are nitrogen fixers, storing nitrogen in specially adapted root nodules, so they don’t need specialist feeding.

Pruning advice for lupins

• Remove flower spikes once they have faded to encourage further blooming, and don’t allow any seed pods to develop.
• Leave foliage to die back naturally in the autumn.

Please allow us 3-5 working days to dispatch your order. Pre-ordered items will be sent as soon as possible after the date quoted and we'll generally ship your entire order with your pre-ordered items. When your order is dispatched, we'll send you another email with details of how to track it.

Most orders are sent on a fully-tracked courier service with Yodel. To avoid perishable items being stuck at depots and deteriorating, no signature is required, and our courier is asked to leave your order in a safe place on your property.

We'll send a tracking link when we dispatch your order, so you know when its due to arrive. Please note, once delivered we cannot be held responsible for loss or theft from your property. If you have any specific delivery instructions, please let us know - there's an option to enter a short message for the courier at the checkout.

Smaller, lighter, single-item orders may be sent through the post with Royal Mail - in which case no tracking is available.

Our experienced nursery team will always send your plants nursery fresh in the perfect condition to thrive when you plant them, so although most plants are very tough and will not be affected by all but the most extreme frosts or heatwaves, we avoid dispatching the most perishable plants if extreme weather is forecast, or over Bank Holiday weekends.

Please note, we cannot guarantee delivery on a certain day or time. Delivery to outlying postcode areas may take 1-2 days longer, dependent on your location.