Rochester gone loopy – the Lupin Festival
So, everyone's talking about purple. The street signs are suddenly purple – we even have purple cross walks. Which come in handy since there are lots of people in Rochester right now and not a lot of cars. The reason? Lupins. Too many of em. Rochesterians are pretty much Lupin crazy this time of year – the most Lupins in North America by all accounts. Enough to make a Monty Python fan very happy with life. I wont be going to the Lupin festival this year – Ive seen enough of them on campus and besides which I am still mourning the Magnolia blossom (a far more delightful sight in my humble opinion). Lupins. Loopy.
Dr Hair is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the E Philip Saunders College of Business at RIT.
© 2008, Dr Neil Hair. All rights reserved.
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Dear Dr.Hair…..
Thanks for the word on the lupin festival. (I’m an old Monty Python fan, also.) I have been searching for a purple flower that will blossom outside my tall window in San Francisco, and am now considering lupins, so found you via Google. If you wish to see magnolias everywhere, you should come to visit S.F…. our streets are lined with them. but, of course, the blossoms are far too high to reach, but as our old retainer Jones from when I was a child in Memphis used to say, “Now sweet chile, you know I pick y’all one, ain’t gonna last, be turnin’ brown by sunset.” But there I only saw the blossoms in our big old magnolia tree in the front yard… here they are everywhere.
Now I shall hunt the nurseries for lupins… or maybe look for lupin beans to plant in our February ‘Spring.’ Can you tell me about the ‘sweet’ lupin and what to look for so I can perhaps harvest the beans and roast them or whatever one does. Wikipedia says they are edible.
Thanks again… fun to read/see your lupins…..
Peggy Cartwright