Lupin · The Bronx, New York, United States
When to sow lupins in The Bronx
Main outdoor window
1-29 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
15 April
In The Bronx, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Jul
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in The Bronx
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
10 Jun - 8 Jul
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
1-29 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
29 Apr - 27 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
1 Jun - 31 Jul
Lupins through the year
Against the frost risk in The Bronx
Why these dates
Sow direct a fortnight before the last frost, or start indoors eight weeks earlier - the seed germinates much better if chipped or soaked overnight first. Plants flower in their second year and are usually past their best by their fourth, so sow a few every year. Cut the spent spikes to get a second flush.
Hardy to -30C. Slugs destroy the emerging spring crowns far more often than frost does, and a wet winter on clay rots the deep taproot.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Lupins are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for The Bronx.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. The Bronx is zone 7a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in The Bronx
Other flowers to time
Growing lupins in The Bronx
When should I plant lupins in The Bronx?
Aim for 1-29 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10 Apr - 8 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lupins be ready to harvest in The Bronx?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Jul, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lupins tolerate?
Hardy to -30C. Slugs destroy the emerging spring crowns far more often than frost does, and a wet winter on clay rots the deep taproot.