Sky Lupine
Lupinus nanus
Fragrant spikes of blue-and-white pea flowers carpet California coastal hillsides and open valleys in spring over palmate, silky-haired foliage. A fast-growing native annual that fixes nitrogen on dry slopes, attracting bees and blue butterfly larvae before setting seed and vanishing by summer.
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- annual
- Height
- 0.5–2 ft
- Spacing
- 0.5–1 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, acidic
- Bloom
- March, April, May
- Bloom colors
- blue
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~35 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- border, container
- Native states
- CA
Related native plants
More Lupinus species
- Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis)
- Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor)
- Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)
- Arroyo Lupine (Lupinus succulentus)
- Yellow Bush Lupine (Lupinus arboreus)
- Bigleaf Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus)