I have mine in full sun and the soil there gets quite dry. They seem very happy there. They are labeled drought tolerant.
You do have to be careful not to disturb the root when transplanting. If the root is disturbed, they die.
I have successfully moved very small lupines. I'm sure I took a lot more dirt than was needed, but I wanted to make sure they made it through okay. If I start in the house, they get individual pots. I did WS some this year, and I will do big HOS. I may lose a couple, but I think if I'm careful most of them should survive. I may cut the jug off the soil in an attempt to cause the least amount of disturbance possible.
I'm not sure when to plant out, I always waited until the last frost date passed just to make sure it was safe. These are by the side of the road and will get buried by the snow plows so I play it safe. They overwinter just fine there, but I don't think young sprouts would tolerate suddenly being buried like that if the snow came late.
Good luck with your lupines. I hope it works out for you.

I"ve grown wild blue lupine for years via WS. I try to transplant early, but I've never had any problem with them surviving transplant. This year, I even moved a three year old plant. So far it looks good. They do grow in hot, sandy, sunny areas naturally. Hope that helps.

Martha

OMG, you reminded me I had Lupine seeds that I forgot to WS, :(

Thanks everyone!I am going to transplant them this weekend.

Glad someone asked about this. I've never grown lupines of any kind before, by any method. I WS'd "Morello Cherry." They've sprouted and have their first true leaves.

I was wondering about planting out too. My frost date's May 15, "safe" planting date for tenders is Memorial Day, but these are hardy perennials and should be able to go in the ground earlier. More temps in the 20's predicted this week. Should they get planted out now, before the tap root gets longer?

For growing conditions, they like sun but not too-hot weather. For soil- loose, well-drained with neutral to acidic pH.

They don't do well here in our sweltering heat and alkaline clay soil. Been there, done that too.

Karen

I need to remember that hot and dry in my world is very different than in other zones. My lupines are happy in the hot dry areas of Michigan. The wild ones grow in "pine barrens" which are clearings among the evergreen forests that often grew up in the sandy areas inland from the great lakes.

Martha

What a coincidence, I just came in from the yard and had planted my Tutti Fruitti Lupine which I had winter sown. They had two sets of true leaves and wanted out of the container. I have never winter sown them before but the germination rate was great. I also did some giant Lupine, but they are not as far ahead of schedule. The 10 day weather forcast should be good, I am just praying for no more snow and freezing weather.

"I need to remember that hot and dry in my world is very different than in other zones"

You made me smile, Martha. I had never been to Mi until my husband and I spent a week on a lake in Mi a couple of years ago, in summer. Days were beautiful, nice and warm on the beach, never, ever hot as I'm used to on Fl beaches.

It got very cool the first evening. The rental house had no air conditioning, so we slept with the window open. We woke up freezing with teeth chattering! I couldn't believe it could be so much colder one state north of home.

Karen

Karen,
We Michiganders do enjoy our warm snuggley blankets for night time. Any time of year, the first person up on a camping trip always restarts the campfire from the leftover coals so everyone can warm themselves by the fire until the sun gets stronger. I think it's similar in the desert. Days are unbearably warm, but nights get frigid.

Martha

Lupines have spread to the wild, as such , mostly they survive on around natural rainfall cycles of 60-70 inches a year here.

They are tough, but they like cooler zones, but easily handly -40f degrees for winter hardines.

Seen here Lupine Tutti Frutti, a wintersown hybrid type from a few years ago, Ive seen some of the natural ones last years, but you will eventually have to resow them, they are not a long lasting perrenial, but rather a easily sown one, each flower stalk may produce hundreds of seeds. A good size clump like this will have thousand or two of viable seed. You can easily wintersow them every couple years if you want, I do them on a rudbeckia cycle I have so every 2-3 years when I see some of these start dying down a little, I sow some more.

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Aren't those PRETTY! Thanks silverkelt, for sharing those pics.

I love lupines, but haven't had great success with them. I'd somehow gotten the impression that they liked part shade (wrong). This year's sprouts are going in full sun and if that doens't work out, these are coming off my list as much as I love them (I have a thing for vertically stacked flowers - foxglove,delpheniums, verbascum...)

After reading this post, I planted out my two jugs of lupines this morning. The entire HOS came perfectly out of the gallon milk jugs so I can't imagine that I distrubed any roots.