The essence of a Maine summer includes Large-Leafed Lupines (Lupinus polyphyllus), colorful members of the pea family that are now in full bloom here. The plant name, pronounced “LOU-pin,” derives from the Latin word for wolfish, in this case meaning that the plant was thought to wolf down soil nutrients at the expense of other plants.
Lupines, like a good Scotch, go well with water on the side. Here we see Lupines in a hill patch overlooking Stonington Harbor:
06/13/20
Here we see Lupines erupting in a field on Amen Ridge in Brooklin, overlooking Blue Hill Bay and Acadia National Park beyond:
06/15/20
06/12/20
These plants are not Maine natives; they reportedly were imported here from western states and even Europe. We’re told by the New England Historical Society that one of the reasons that so many of these plants are found scattered throughout Maine is because of the efforts of Hilda Edwards, “The Lupine Lady.”
Hilda reportedly scattered Lupine seeds fanatically in Maine during her extensive travels as a summer resident here. Among other ways, she apparently did so through the windows of moving cars, while striding our fields, and in walking city blocks where there were patches of greenery or dirt. A popular and award-winning children’s fictional book was based on her in which she was called Miss Rumphius, the Lupine seed scatterer. (Brooklin, Maine)