I once knew a man who grew lupines just for their leaves. It seemed crazy to me, but when it came down to it he didn't approve of the flower formation, so he would grow the lupines as winter cover, and appreciate their leaves only. He was a British gardener, so I should have expected these kinds of eccentricities from him from the get-go.
When bedding plant season came, he would unceremoniously rip the lupines out of the ground, laying them in a pile on top of his compost/leaf mould pile. Of course, lupines make an excellent 'green manure' for flower and vegetable gardens, and this is because of the symbiotic relationship they hold with a special bacteria that lives on their roots. To grow lupines from seed each summer just to sacrifice in the spring seemed a bit harsh to me then, but looking back I can see why these strange old habits of strange old gardeners die hard; Once you set upon something that works for you it is just labour lost to try for a new ideal.
Lupines also, of course, have incredibly pretty flowers, but perhaps this is an acquired taste. The form and structure of a lupin is alot like that of many wild flowers. The Russel Hybrid lupines, with their bi-coloured flowers and cotton-candy colours are a little too garish for many tastes, but they say there is a lupin for every garden. With these mixes maybe it's just a matter of starting the whole packet and choosing those colours you can live with. Never purchase a lupine plant - that's just uneconomical and not likely to thrive. Accept divisions by all means, but don't expect the world if you transplant after early-summer.
Of course, other than leaf, flower and function there is one more real benefit that lupines play out in the garden, and that's in attracting beneficial insects and pollinators. Lupine honey is rare, but it is some of the most coveted in the world, having little base-funk and all sweet aroma.
I you are still not sold, remember lupines ability to work your soil. If you dig up a lupine today you will find white fleshy roots covered with small nodules. These look like a disease or disorder, but what they really are are the host sites of millions of tiny nitrogen-fixing bacteria. They grab onto the roots of Leguminous (pea-family) plants and form a bond with the plant. They take nitrogen from the air (yes, the soil does breathe) and give it to the plant to use. THIS is why lupines are such successful roadside weeds, even in areas of very low soil fertility. They can assimilate nitrogen from the air.
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