Thank you, I think that is it!

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.

Thanks for the info. I checked around my house as there are some plants that I'm not sure what they are and looked slightly similar. I'm pretty sure they are not though. Unfortunately getting rid of noxious weeds is an uphill battle but this info is a start.

I also have them return most years. They bloom all summer without any care or deadheading, so worth having IMO. I can get a 4-pack of seedlings locally for $3 or so. I usually get something like 3 years from a plant, but they also self-seed well and so continue in the same spot. I like them well enough that I've given them protection in the form of a mesh ring sunk about 6" and sticking up about 2" after the voles twice ate every root on a plant in full bloom - a sad sight. At least some of the seedlings end up in the ring. Mine are in more than half day sun (probably 10 hours midsummer) and in well-drained moist soil that is a combo of my native acid fine sandy loam with aged horse manure and well mulched to reduce weed seeds from the manure and the surrounding field. I find that they are such a mass of flowers that they pack a good punch even though they aren't particularly large plants, and the hummingbirds enjoy them.