Foxglove How tall is yours?

I just picked up a Digitalis grandiflora 'Carillon' at Home Depot. Now I'm still not immune to the occasional splurge, but I like to do research here before I plant. I was disappointed to learn that the information on the tag might not be correct. The tag says the height is 2-3 feet, but here on the web it's listed as a dwarf, only one foot tall at maturity. The tag also states that it has white flowers, but they're a pale yellow, like the true species. Should I just plant it and see how tall it gets? I really need a taller plant at the back of my border beside the deck.

I also picked up a dwarf azalea, 'Tradition' that I know is not hardy here, but it was only $4.99, so I'll keep it in a pot and try to overwinter it.

Mine last year that didn't come back this year was closer to four feet.

Suzy

Hey Suzy! Wonder why it didn't come back? It may be a biennial too, so don't plant anything in that spot and see if it comes back NEXT year.

I forgot to tell you, I got a couple of pretty daff blooms, but forgot to take a pic for you. With our freakish weather, I'm surprised anything bloomed. And there were tulips under the spruce tree! A dark purple and a white, they're on the way out now too. How could I forget to take a pic, I'm sorry. I do think of you whenever I see them, and smile.

Did you have the 'Carillon' or another kind of foxglove? And was it white or yellow?

Hey PG!

I had another kind, D. mertonensis, The Strawberry foxglove species. I had joined DG after it bllomed and I had already cut off the spikes. I figured they had planty of time to drop seed, so either they didn't have enough time or the habitat was unhospitable. I really thought I'd have a huge stand of them, but now I have nothing. I did start some from seed last year and they might (they should) bloom this year. Those plants are big enough! And I have some Foxy whcich is supposed to bloom 1st year, but as small as those little plants are, I doubt it!

I have a lot of places it *should* be happy, but I'll be danged if I can get it going! This isn't the first year I've tried by any means!

Suzy

Well I had a store credit for the Japanese forest grass that died. So I have nothing to lose really. It's been trial and error in this little shade garden. It faces the swingset, so it's a "focal point" in the yard LOL.This year I need some dicentras, and a want another crack at pulmonarias. I have never tried polygonatum or ligularia. Or cinnamon fern or toad lily. LOL I had no idea foxglove grew in shade until I saw it in a catalog. So many flowers on one stem! Did you know they're called "fairy thimbles? I will try to get a picture tomorrow. Do you remember Little Kiddles? They lived in flowers, well these remind me of that.

PG, be careful. Foxglove grows in shade, yes, but not dry shade in my experience. It doesn't grow and it doesn't bloom and then it doesn't come back 2 years later when it should.

Of the things you mentions, I have grown them all because I have soooo much shade.
Ligularia takes a lot of water and gets gigatically huge in diameter. Polygonatum isn't very ornamental. One of them gets really, really tall, and arches over to make it about 36" tall, and it's cool, but not up close. The varigated one is nice, tho.
Toadlilies don't look good until they bloom in late August. Personally I don't find the plant attractive in the least.
There are 2 dicentras -- the fernyleaved one blooms all summer but only gets 10-12" tall and the Old Fashioned, "Lady in a Bathtub" one, goes dormant in June.
Take a look at Thalictrum. Currently my favorite perennial of all time. http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/132671/
This photo is one where it is growing in full shade and leaning to the sun with no staking.

Suzy

This message was edited May 10, 2007 10:28 AM

LOL Suzy. This bed is now amended and watered. That was not the case when I thought plants just grew if you stuck them in the ground LOL I believe I admired your Thalictrum last summer. Have you seen Black Stockings? I love dark foliage, and this one has dark stems that really caught my eye. Funny you said that about polygonatum and toad lilies, I think the only way to get impact from plants like those two is to use lots of them. My husband's friend has a ton of Solomon's Seal planted with hostas as his foundation planting. It really makes an impact! Maybe they're variegated? I don't know, but he was planting bushes and I wanted my husband to go get me a nice clump but he was too tired. Maybe I can convince him this weekend? He lives in St. John, IN. Have you seen Candy Hearts and Ivory Hearts dicentras? They're cute little colorful plants. Do you think Ligularia and Thalictrum would play nice together? Have I asked you enough questions yet?

Meanwhile my Foxglove from last year is nowhere to be seen. It seemed quite happy when we last saw each other, but has yet to show itself. Should I stop waiting by the phone?

Any wisdom for this newbie?

wait til next year? its really a biennial.

I thought a biennial only lived for 2 years?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its lifecycle. In the first year the plant grows leaves, stems, and roots (vegetative structures); then it enters a period of dormancy over the colder months. Usually, the stem remains very short and the leaves are low to the ground, forming a rosette. Many biennials require a cold treatment, or vernalization, before they will flower. The next spring/summer the stem of the biennial plant elongates greatly, or bolts. The plant then flowers, producing fruits and seeds before it finally dies.

If that's wrong I need to rethink my garden design!

Joanne

Did you let it go to seed megalli? (that's funny, my daughter is Meg and my niece is Allie) If so, that period of vernalization would've occured this past winter. So it should come back for you this year, but only the vegetation. Next year the flowers. If it's a cultivar (like mine) all bets are off, some of them produce sterile, or otherwise unviable, seed. This protects the patent, and ensures that you will purchase more plants! :0)

edited for sp

This message was edited May 15, 2007 7:36 PM

The plants (4 of them) did in fact go to seed, but I am thinking that these seeds may have been sterile after all. I am hoping that they will miraculously reappear next year, but this seems like a long shot. With our on-again, off-again winter I am going to assume that they expired.

I did end up buying a couple more this weekend -- I just cant get enough of those plants!

Thanks!

PrairieGirlZ5 wants to know how tall our foxglove are ?

well
the store bought are only a cpl ft tall
but the wild ones that grow all over are over 6 ft tall

Dick

more

Yowza! Thanks for sharing the pics Dick. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Wow I can't believe you have wild foxgloves they are so stunning. Ive never seen wild ones very pretty .i really like the foxgloves and had three of them my self. i hope they selfseed pretty good love the colors.

gardenlady
they most definitely do reseed
we are having them show up in odd places all over the place
this year we even had them show up on top of this redwood stump

Dick

I think those wild ones (D. purpurea) are so much more elegant than the hybrids that are out and available...The stocky ones like 'Pam's Choice' are just blobs as far as I'm concerned, and the 'Candy Mountain' with the upward gloves from T&M is just WRONG!

Suzy

Yep Suzy, bizarre is the word that comes to mind. What do you mean by stocky?

Pam's Choice has flowers all around the stem and it's only about 36 inches tall....so instead of being long and lean and willowy like Dick's flowers, it is short and dumpy, I was being kind by calling it stocky.

Suzy

Ugh. I hate the trend to change the forms of flowers. Like those weird echinacea that have petals on their cones. New colors are sometimes welcome and disease resistance is always nice, but I don't care for some of the hybrids either.

LOL!

S.

Hi - are we supposed to deadhead Foxglove to get more blooms? I had been doing that - then I remembered we are supposed to let them reseed.

Please advise. I want to have flowers for as long as possible - but I also want the seeds.

Yes, you deadhead foxgloves which are definately biennials. This means they bloom every two years. July is a good month to start them from seed. The seedlings will be big enough to plant outdoors in the fall and you'll have great flowers in the spring.

Foxgloves / Digitalis are perennials, except D. purpurea and ferruginea. I guess everybody grows D. purpurea so they have a reputation as biennials.

Admitedly I generalized. Specifically Foxglove Digitalis can either be biennial or short-lived perennials and able to produce a lot of seed.

Which one do I have?

That I don't know for sure. I am assuming, however, that you have the biennial.

i knew these foxgloves were tall
so i went and measured them this morning
this tall one is over 9 ft tall :-)

Dick

Mine is supposedly the perennial, and so far it's much shorter. If I deadhead it to get more blooms (cut off the flowering stalk once it is spent), how long does it bloom? All summer, or later, or not. Thanks.

Foxglove are very very easy from seed. I have 4 flats of them out in the cold frame now. I start them under lights in the basement. They can be hard to transplant if they are sown too thick. I always find they make a big hole in my flower bed after they have finished blooming, so I replace them with cleomes.

Do you just remove them then, or plant close by them?? Cleome would be a perfect replacement, but it doesn't come in yellow, right?

I remove the foxglove plants. Cleome comes in pink and lavender . I just wonder if maybe next year I could put in some of the knee high sunflowers. Do you think they would get too bushy?

There was a lot of talk last year about yellow cleome in the seed trading forum. It's Cleome lutea, a native wildflower that grows out west. I have some white ones too.

Thanks claypa! I'll have to check that out. I will probably leave the foxglove there though just to see what it does, and just plant in front of it. I don't know how bushy the dwarf sunflowers get, but don't they need full sun? What about Kim's knee-high coneflowers?

Time, I was surprised by how bushy the 30" sunflowers were -- I didn't even think about it, I just assumed they would be a single stalk with a single sunflower on top -- just like the big ones, but in miniature. It turns out (on the particular variety I have now) that each plant has 10 flowers and they are smaller than a sunflower and the whole plant is much bigger in diameter than I thought it would be. I'm sort of disappointed.

I bought 6 different kinds of little sunflowers, but i was so busy planting those $#@! wintersowed seedlings I didn't have time to plant the seeds of any except that one I have growing.

Suzy

I don't think it's too late, esp now that it's warmed up.

I thought they would be single stem as well. I will have to rethink that.

Let me take a pic tomorrow-- it's still an attractive plant. Just not what I was expecting is all.

Suzy

This group that I grew from seed is slightly less than 6 feet at the moment. This picture is from this morning. Digitalis purpurea Alba 2.99 Agway Keene NH- Thompson and Morgan 48" planted seedlings that were started in the spring in this bed on July 15 2006. So the package for 48" was not too accurate. This is a new bed that I dug last year and I have not amended it much at all, so this was nature at work, not me. Patti