I’m worried.
For years, I tried to develop a nice lupine patch at my driveway entrance. I threw out seeds but nothing happened. I’d try again the next year and a stalk or two would take root, but my dreams of a glorious blue-pink-lavender white flower swath seemed doomed.
Being a lupine fanatic, I didn’t give up, and I’m proud to announce my efforts are finally paying off. Late last summer, as always, I collected lupine seeds and scattered them and, as always, this June, eagerly awaited the outcome. For the past decade, only a measly number of seeds took root, so my expectations were low.
But this year, the scattered seeds must have taken pity on me, and a very respectable batch of lupine is merrily blooming on one side of my driveway. I’d like to think my perseverance has finally paid off but, to tell the truth, I can’t explain this success. I’ve also been scattering seeds on the driveway’s other side, and only a few plants took root.
However, one thing is bugging me.
Several weeks ago, orange-garbed workers disgorged from official looking trucks and filled the South Shore pavement with orange-green yellow marks. They made one of these markings on the asphalt directly in front of my driveway along with a stake marking my culvert. Is the highway department finally going to resurface the road? Are those charming potholes about to be filled? I’d be happy except for one thing.
Is my lupine patch in danger?
Will I wake up one morning to find an excavator digging at the end of my driveway? Will some unsuspecting worker churn the beautiful blue, pink and white flower stalks into the mud as a new culvert is laid under my driveway?
The workers and their vehicles haven’t returned, but I know they will.
I need a course of action when they do. Should I run out to the road and throw myself in front of my lupines? A friend does when the mowers come by her mailbox. Should I put up a sign—“Please don’t Disturb the Lupine”?
While I fret and worry, I am enjoying the flowering ditches and hillsides elsewhere. The blooms on the rest of the South Shore are also bursting with color as are the plants on the Gunflint Trail, with the largest and showiest displays along Highway 61. The mix of brilliant colors and sheer lupine numbers in Little Marais is dazzling.
Meanwhile, I wait to see what happens to my lupine patch.
Leave a Reply