Two weeks ago, arriving home after a torrential rainstorm, I discovered raindrops suspended in the center of my seedling lupine leaf blades. The droplets looked, for all the world, like sparkling gem stones.
It was a wonderful surprise ... unexpected too, as I didn't think the lupine stems looked strong enough to support even their own weight.
I'd been keeping the young lupine plants covered with soft netting, to deter rabbits from eating the leaves and squirrels from wounding the plants while burying nuts. Somehow during the storm, though, the heavy rain made it's way through the netting and pooled gently onto the leaves.
I've never before seen anything like this!
The heavy drops of water glistened in the waning sunlight as they delicately clung to the silvery hairs on the lupine leaves. The sides of the watery diamonds bulged as though ready to burst, while simultaneously refusing to let go.
This magical moment lasted for less than a minute: In the blink of an eye the luminous droplets had disappeared, and I marveled at the seemingly limitless surprises in our natural environment.
It turns out, though, that I should have been growing lupines all along ... I've unexpectedly enjoyed this sparkly phenomenon several more times since, always after a significant but sheltered rain.
So lupines it is!
I'm now able to recommend growing lupines, for the beauty they'll provide for years to come and for their surprisingly luminous gem-catching ability - Enjoy the magic!
