Lupinus Polyphyllus - Russell Hybrids

Russell Hybrids

The herbaceous lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus, arrived in Britain from North America in the 1820s brought over by David Douglas. Almost a century later, George Russell, a 53-year-old horticulturalist from UK York started to breed the famous Russell hybrids (Lupinus X russellii hort). Lupinus polphyllus originally were of basic colours and had large gaps in the flowering spike. Without the use of modern day plant breeding techniques, Russell took to ruthlessly pulling out any plants which he deemed to be unacceptable in growth or display. He spent two decades single-mindedly trying to breed the perfect lupin, crossing L. polyphyllus with L. arboreus and one or more annual species (maybe L. nootkatensis).

Over the decades the plants he selected developed flower spikes which were denser, larger and more colourful than the original Lupinus polyphyllus. His work may have gone unrecognised if he had not been encouraged, by another nurseryman called James Baker, to show the plants to the public. It is understood the pair worked together for several years to perfect the Russell Hybrid, before they were displayed at the Royal Horticultural Society's June show in 1937 – where their brightly coloured, tightly packed spires won awards . He was later awarded an MBE and the Royal Horticultural Society awarded him the Veitch Memorial Medal for a lifetime's achievement in horticulture. Baker later secured Russell's entire stock, in their heyday, Bakers attracted 80,000 visitors in June to see 40 acres (16 ha) of lupins in flower.

Russell disliked the blue colours as they reflected too closely the original plants imported from America almost a 100 years previously. The blue colouring is a recessive allele, and so although Russell might have worked hard to suppress it, lupins left unchecked over several generations will eventually revert back to the old blues. Almost all garden lupins today are hybrids of the true Russell hybrids due to their ease of cross pollinating with one another, and with no special interest in lupin cultivating until recent years it has meant the plants have created a large pool of genetic diversity and variation from the original Russells .

The templates created by Russell are still used by other specialist lupin horticulturalists today e.g. Maurice and Brian Woodfield, nurserymen from Stratford-upon-Avon, who received the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for their work on lupins in 2000. The Woodfields created more complex plants with more varied and vivid bi-coloured spikes, the red and yellow, and red and purple flowers are particular highlights of the 'Woodfield' lupin variety. . In 2009, Sarah Conibear who runs the Westcountry Nurseries, displayed several new varieties including the ‘Beefeater', about which the RHS writer Graham Rice commented " has what looks to be the best red lupin we've seen so far."