11/06/2026
The Russell Lupin Story (Part 1)
George Russell was born in 1857 in Yorkshire. In Victorian times there was a great interest in horticulture, most villages had their own Garden Society. George's first memory of seeing plants was being taken to his local flower show.
As a young man he worked for Backhouse Nurseries, York and Pennells Nursery, Lincoln. Working in comercial horticulture honed George's ability to recognise a good plant.
George’s wife became ill, so he left nursery work to become a jobbing gardener, which gave him the flexibility to look after her.
After her death, his neighbour, Mrs Heard, took George under her wing. She had a young son, Arthur, who George called Sonny. Due to illness Arthur had been prescribed plenty of fresh air, so he used to accompany George on his gardening jobs.
In 1911, George, aged 54, saw his first lupin in a flower arrangement, he was hooked and thus started his obsession to improve and breed the best possible lupins for the garden.
George’s ideal lupin would be compact, disease free, truly perennial and available in all the colours of the rainbow. The flower spike should be solid with florets, not showing any of the stem.
He started by obtaining seed of the species and also hybrids produced by other nurseries. He grew the seedlings in his allotments, relying on only the bumble bees to cross pollinate.
George grew hundreds of seedlings, but only kept the very best. After 25 years of sowing seed from the best and then constantly reselecting George developed this fantastic new strain of lupins.
James Baker, a highly respected Wolverhampton based nurseryman, heard about George Russell and his reluctance to sell his wonderful lupins.
In 1936 James visited George, promising to take over propagation and promotion, allowing George to concentrate on his selections and roguing out for the rest of his life, with no worries about money. George agreed, so along with Arthur Heard and his wife they moved to the new nursery at Boningale, the rest is history.
Many thanks to Judy Davies The Codsall and Bilbrook History Society and Ken Tudor.
1) The magnificent lupin fields at Boningale.
2) George Russell receiving his MBE in 1950, the year before he died aged 94.
3) Painting of George Russell about 1937.
4) Baker’s Nursery heralds the introduction of the Russell Lupins to worldwide acclaim in their 1937 catalogue.
5) George with Arthur Heard (Sonny).
6) Arthur (Sonny).
7) In 1938, 80,000 people came to admire the field of Lupin at Boningale.
All photos are taken from Pat Edwards excellent book 'The Russell Lupin Story'.
