Foxgloves?

I admit. I LOVE 'EM. Does anyone have experience growing these? I've always steered away from growing "Biennials" as they seem to be disappointing in general (lots of work and waiting for little bloom), but I just WANT to see these nodding away in my garden...I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Oh Gracye- This is my first year of blooming Foxgloves, the big fat popular ones. They were amazing.
Last fall or spring, I got seedlings from Gita. They are nice rosette things of fuzzy leaves, remind you of lambs ear but not THAT fuzzy, about half, but fairly large leaves, Each plant filled about , oh, more than a square foot. This spring they shot up with spikes of five feet to over six feet tall, just loaded with blooms. This is in a shady place with some late pm sun.
Ah, but now the basal leaves look horrible as they yellow and dry up, and the spikes need to stay and finish ripening as I plan to let them self sow. If you did not want them to self sow you could have pulled the whole plant a week or two ago and put something new in there for summer, annuals?

sallyg - the picture you paint makes me even MORE desirous than ever! They take my breath, and so did your comment! thank you so much.

Gracye, I wintersowed them this year and have plenty of little foxgloves. If you come to the fall swap this year, I'll have some yellow and white ones to give away, and they'll bloom for you next spring!

And they seem to love my wet clay soil! The leaves stayed evergreen all winter, too.

Enjoy
RATS! Not rotated!!

This message was edited May 31, 2012 8:56 PM

and if you plant them 2 years in a row you'll have them every year

I love foxgloves, but have not had much luck getting them established. I bought three at a time several times over the years, but they never reseeded to keep going. At the spring swap, I received some from Gita and David&Pat - enough to spread around the hillside shade garden in five different spots. Gita posted some really good info on foxglove care and seeding http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9142828. I'm hoping the swap gifts will result in established foxglove patches.

Sally, yours are spectacular, but I don't see any RATS to rotate ??? LOL Sorry, I'm amusing myself with stupid humor at this hour of the morning - can't sleep once again.....

I plan to gather some seed from this year's spikes. (With Gita's precautions!) It looks like I'll have plenty!! If not for seed saving and self sowing, I'd take the plants out right now, they are that horrible.
>
(if I can keep the unrotated rats away...)

I'ma comin...! Thank you so much! My first swap meet! I'm psyched! LOVELY photo, even with the rats...LOL! Foxgloves are so regal, so dignified, dontcha think?

At that stage in the photo, oh yeah!

I grew them from seed in 2009 for the first time and have had them in my garden ever since. Sometimes I did a bad job potting up baby plants and had to get supplies from Pat and David :-).

The first picture was taken 2 years ago. Now I work away from home during the week and the garden has suffered. I only have a few foxgloves here and there in the garden this year. Must do a better job next year.

Oh they are so pretty, donner

Sally, yours look so neat. Did you stake them? I have never staked mine and some of them flop after rain.

Love the composition of your picture.

I love foxgloves, so much myth and lore. I also like the variegated iris in Donner's pic. Check this out:
http://www.dancingleaves.com/allison/environment/foxglove_folklore.html
Ric

Donner, your foxgloves look great too. I am really hoping I can get some of these beauties established here. I was re-reading Tasha Tudor's Garden during my lunch break, and she had "spires growing six feet tall with stalks so thick that you could barely get your hands around them" - her secret was heavy doses of manure tea. I saw a picture years ago, can't remember where, of a large stand of white foxgloves at the edge of a woodland in the early morning mist - been hooked on them ever since.

Manure tea has to be good for everything! I had 18 yards of mushroom compost delivered earlier this year. My garden should be very happy this year! Hopefully the foxgloves next year are stronger.

The variegated iris brightens up the garden. Love it. I have not done a good job looking after my irises though. I lost more than last year's growth to borers this year, except for the fragrant white ones that I shared at the swap. I still have plenty of those :-)

Thank you for the link, Holly. It is interesting that Wales was mentioned in the article. I once saw foxgloves grow on hillside and thought they were garden escapees. As it turned out, they were native there.

donner, I put stakes IN for my foxgloves but never got around to tying them; I was very lucky they didn't fall over. I would straighten that picture but it is on my cell phone- tech difficulties. Thanks. It was a groupd of five plants and just luckily happened that way- down to being one color in the foreground, slightly paler and taller next two, and even lighter last two spikes. Their site is pretty sheltered from wind due to that privacy fence, another privacy fence, and trees.
I sure do want more foxgloves next year. I put seedlings from Gita in another bed ; we'll see how they do with more sun and wind.

Ric, thanks for the link, I'll have to remember next time I have a ''scabby head''

Didn't stake mine, will next year.
Strawberry Foxglove

Went to my local nursery today, on a mission NOT for foxgloves (needed NEEM oil and bird seed), and was magnetized by the huge greenhouse with the dwarf evergreens (now why do I love them so much?) and the, OH! Foxgloves! They were all kinda at end of their bloom, but, oh my. Never was a grander plant made. Thank you all for giving me new energy into obtaining them for my own garden...will see you at the swap meet for sure. I'm going to dig up some old (150 years old or more) iris...not really pretty (pale blushy yellow and ketchup/mustard combo) but they are true heritage plants and MUST be the healthiest ones around...LOL!

Gracye, when you mention your local nursery, do you go to the Merriefield Garden Center in Gainesville? It is fairly close to Warrenton. It is a trek for me, but I love the selection there. I haven't been there yet this season, but it is on the to do list.

I moved from VA to MD 5 years ago and I still go to Merrifield several times a year. Went there last Saturday :-). A trip to Merrifield is a therapeutic session for me, although my hubby thinks it is actually cheaper to go to a day spa. Make sure you bring your checkbook with ya :-).

I grew up in the Fairfax Area. I remember Betty's Azalea Ranch as the great outing with my parents, and loved to just get out of the car and lok at those Azaleas. Yep, a couple of rows is all they had. But, what an affordable way for my parents to occupy us!

Also remember the Gargoyles on the building near the original Merrifield Garden Center - WOW! Sure miss them, but what a whacked-out building, huh. We didn't go to Merrifield much, Dad kept to his Jackson & Perkins, Burpees, and Parks catalogs with the occasional outing to Betty's.

I remember only ONE Meadows Farms, too. When I came back home from living in a non-gardening state, VOILA! Oh! The FUN of what I had missed! Now I'm making up for lost time, and am regularly haunting the Merrifield's in Gainesville (where they have a great selection but jeese Merrifield is $$$!). And honestly, a doggone Coffee Shop in a nursery? Where did THAT come from?

So I get ideas from Merrifield, then trot on over to the Southern States in Manassas. Bird seed selection/price is unbeatable, and as of this very minute, all trees and bushes are 50% off! Now, that's my kinda place! I can AFORD to buy something fun! And there's nothing like the strong scent of fertilizers...ah! I grew up with that (grand dad had a Feed Store with chemicals for the farmers).

So, donnerville, I agree with your hubby. Even their post-Christmas sale (and BOY do they buy neat stuff for this holiday!) is usually too $$$ to by much, if anything. Bought my Christmas tree and many trimmings at Betty's last year - just an incredible sale! Bought two sale items at Merrifield, FYI.

I also like the Mom and Pop Meadows Farms that is near me, as their bulk mulch is nice (50% compost) and only about a mile away.

Betty's Azalea Ranch is near my work and, totally against my older sister's advice, I have found it to be VERY reasonable. And they have expanded WAY into the back of the property...they have a great selection of organic products, including Espoma Epsom Salts. And the store lay-out does not confuse me.

A BIG caveat at the nurseries - I have noticed that, in general, I know more about stuff than the staff does. Makes me think alot of my father, and how valuable his gardening advice was and is to me.