Foxglove

The bottom of our garden has been made into a mini woodland. There's a big, old field maple growing there so a woodland theme seemed the only appropriate way to go and even if I say so myself, it's been very successful. The ferns, hostas, astilbes, ivy, primulas and various other bits and bobs that grow there are all very lovely but everything has its moment and for the time being they've all been pushed out of the limelight by one particular plant - the tall, majestic foxglove that's at its best right now. Foxgloves, or digitalis, to give them their proper name, are native plants that grow ... more

Tidying up the garden I notice some foxglove plants. These plants are e at the back of my border. The name although in my childhood I thought it meant foxes gloves really means folks gloves , fairy folk were said to use the foxglove bell shaped flower as a glove. The Latin name is digitalis the flower a finger like shape. A fox glove flower does fit on a finger well, just the like a thimble. Again as a child I would pit my finger into a fox's glove. I expect a lot of you will have heard of digitalis a drug for heart complaints, yes this drug comes from the foxglove. This means the foxglove is ... more

I was surprised to find that the Foxglove had not been given a mention in the gardening section as it is one of my favourites and if it didn't seed itself so abundantly in my garden, I would certainly scour the Garden Centres to buy it. It has to be one of the most beautiful and useful plants, looking equally as effective either outdoors or cut and displayed in the home. The colours range from deep violet to the purest white and I have even been delighted to find pale lemon ones. It has a long life, lasting from early spring to late summer if the seeds are scattered at varying times throughout ... more

Foxglove flowers have a really deep throat which is ideal for bees and other flying insects to enter to extract as much nectar as possible . The bees are guided by what are in effect are tramlines in the throat of the flowers that tell them where to go to get the nectar. These ultra violet lines are present in many flowers not just the foxglove but they are a prime example . Foxgloves are stictly speaking biennials but as they self seed around everywhere there is no need to sow again after the first year . In fact in my experience they can become a bit of a weed because of this and are not ... more