I'd go ahead and try them, and see how they do in your yard. Even in the same zone, there are lots of factors affecting the same plant. I planted lupine last year with some success, but they were in the wrong spot for me, I think. I'm doing them again this year, along with larkspur and delphineums.

Walmart has 97 cent Burpee seeds so that's a modest investment in case they don't like your conditions.

Lupins do not tend to very well. We do not have consistent levels of snow cover or cool summers. There are varieties that grow in hot dry conditions with little or no snow, but they do not live long here and the ones that can be seen all over canada and nova scotia have the problem described above. The newer hybrids do much better, but they have never lived more than a few years or looked like the tall lust pictures I see in magazines. A neighbor has a yellow variety that does very well and I had a pink one that did fine. It is a lot of trial and error. I gave up growing them. They also do not seem to transplant well at all, my poppies transplant much better.

My thanks to you both for responding to my question. I've already WinterSown all three, I just suddenly wondered if I was going to be disappointed!

I suppose I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Fortunately, the Lupins I sowed are the newer hybrids and one annual type, so maybe they'll do well.

Thanks again,

LianeNY

I have one delphinium that comes back consistently every year, but another died after two winters. I don't remember the name/variety of the survivor, sorry.
As for lupines, I love them but have NEVER had any success...they always were slugged to death despite my usage of slug pellets.
Oh well, I do see them on garden shows and in magazines, so some people have been lucky...

My delphs looked great for 2 summers, then died from some disease. They needed mass staking. Lupines don't last long either. Larkspur is an annual here, and needs to be sown in cold weather. Mine do well, and reseed if I'm lucky. I cut them for drying. I agree that you have to try it in your own garden. This is an "iffy" zone.

I grew lupines and delphiniums in the Rocky Mts. at 10,000 ft.(Colorado) and they were fantastic. Never a single problem and they came back every yr (for the 15 yrs. that I lived there). Now I've moved to 5,000 ft. and here the summers are much hotter. The delphiniums do fine but I am about to give up on the lupines. They really like cool summers and grow wild in the high country.