Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine, is a flowering legume plant.
Lupine fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil. The process is similar to other legumes such as clover, alfalfa and beans. Lupine can improve the soil and benefits the plants around it.
This plant has very colorful flowers and many different colors varieties exist. These flowers attract bees, beneficial insects, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Lupine is native to North American and survives our cold winters in central Wisconsin.
I got my lupines started in my backyard orchard from transplants and seeds from my Dad. The flowers produce seed pods and the lupines self-propagate.
Here is an excellent writeup from Temperate Climate Permaculture.
http://tcpermaculture.blogspot.com/2012/07/permaculture-plants-lupine.html
Below are photos of Lupine from my backyard orchard.
