I am not sure why your Lupines are petering out. I am growing them in the dryest sandiest bed in the yard, what I call the xeric garden. I do not fertilize or mulch this bed, and rarely water it, except for new plants or seedlings. Lupines fix nitrogen so they do well in lean soil. They also seem to be very drought tolerant. I was watching an interesting show on Mt St. Helens, and Lupines were the first plants to colonize the mountain after the eruption.

I collected pods last fall and scattered seed in the xeric garden, and had lots of little seedlings this Spring, although the big plants did not return. Also, I ws'd some commercial seeds 'The Chatelaine' - easy to start from seed, they sprout early and are very hardy.

I don't know if they prefer lime or not; but sprouts and seedlings can be susceptible to fungus. Also they seem to act like biennials for me.

Are you deadheading them, preventing them from self sowing?

The campus where I work is currently covered with lupine, and I keep meaning to take some ripe seed in early summer, but every year I seem to forget to do it.

The voles love my lupines, and very few of them last more than a year or so once they are full-sized in the beds that are seriously vole infested. They seem to come back for longer in the beds that show less vole damage in general.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Fungus might well be a possibility, terrene, with all the rain in recent years. Biennials just don't cut it for me in perennial beds that are a long walk from the house. I have to say that my lupines have been behaving exactly like biennials.

Nope, diggingthedirt, I don't deadhead any of my perennials, and in fact I've even tried planting some of the seed pods to no avail, the other pods ought to be self-sowing. I wonder if the nursery where I bought them has sold me a hybrid variety that doesn't self-sow.

And nhbabs the possibility of voles may just be the most likely scenerio yet. If the voles like lupine, then no wonder mine are doomed. The area where my lupine is planted is overrun with voles, since the foxes moved on. (I miss "my" foxes!) You would think that eating a poisonous plant would kill the voles, but then if those who dined on lupine did die, it would not make a dent in the vole overpopulation.

It sounds like there are just too many perils for lupine. I think I've bought my last lupine plants, as pretty as they may be. Guess I'll replace these when they go with more phlox, daylilies, or iris, since these plants thrive there. Thanks again for the replies. All your ideas have been very helpful.