1 of 9
Linda Dunlap
Lovely Lupines
Near Duluth as a freighter heads into port.
2 of 9
Tim Trombley
Lovely Lupines
Near Gulliver, Michigan; the barn is since long gone.
3 of 9
R.J. & Linda Miller
Lovely Lupines
Along Highway 61 south of Grand Marais, Minnesota.
4 of 9
Paul Sundberg
Lovely Lupines
On Thompson Beach near Two Harbors, Minnesota.
5 of 9
Jerry Bielicki
Lovely Lupines
Along Trinity Road in Duluth.
6 of 9
Larry Dunlap
Lovely Lupines
Near Superior, Wisconsin.
7 of 9
Shell & Alan Foeckler
Lovely Lupines
Along County Road B in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
8 of 9
Shell & Alan Foeckler
Lovely Lupines
Burnett County, Wisconsin.
9 of 9
Susan Dykstra
Lovely Lupines
Near Thunder Bay.
Beginning some time in June, roadsides around many Lake Superior shores blossom with lupine. The lavender, pink, white or rose flowers are not native to the region, but probably were introduced in the 1960s as an ornamental plant originally from the Pacific Northwest.
Lupine gets its name from the Latin word lupus for “wolf” and was once mistakenly thought to take nutrients from the soil, says David Schimpf, director of the Olga Lakela Herbarium at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Actually, these “legumes,” through their roots, enrich the soil.
The sun-loving lupine tends to sprout in recently cleared areas – such as under electrical power lines or along roadsides – and thrives in either acid- or alkaline-rich soils as long as there is adequate sun.