Re: Foxgloves


>Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 08:12:14 EDT
>From: WHTROS@aol.com
>Subject: Re: Foxglove -- was Lupines


>I am enjoying the fruits of last year's seed starting.
They are beautiful!!
>I just bought a packet of Digitalis purpurea and have a
pretty good mix of
>colors including my favorite purple.  I have several which
I would like to
>move but am afraid to.  The packet says Biannual or
Perennial so have no clue
>whether any of them will come back or only by reseeding.
Supposedly they
>reseed freely but rarely had anything else reseed so am
trying to decide if I
>should count on that or start more indoors.
>
>I any of you have had any experience with growing Digitalis
purpurea from
>seed, please share with us your experiences.
>
>TIA and Best Wishes to you all --
>Barb
>USDA Zone 5, Rock Island, Illinois USA

I grew some from seed two years ago and then again last year
(as I've only ever treated them as biennial I need to do
that to get some every year).  They were some lovely pastel
colours.  This year, I've got the self seeded babies and
I've got one or two pastel pinks, a few more beautiful clear
whites, but most of them are the plain ordinary pink/purple.
Somebody told me recently that this will happen more and
more, the babies will revert back to this colour.  (Just
read Claire's later post, where she says we need to remove
the ordinary colours to avoid this happening - presumably
before the foxglove sets seed?  Not sure I could bear to do
this, I wouldn't have many plants left in my garden this
summer.)

Last weekend at Wakehurst Place I saw a beautiful display of
Digitalis Excelsior Group, beautiful, beautiful pastel
colours, and such enormous blooms.  I think I might buy a
packet and sew them now in the garden.  They really were
spectacular.

Now, can someone tell me why something strange happens with
my Foxgloves.  They only flower down one side of their
stem - if you go round the back of them, there are no
flowers.  I've got them on both sides of my garden path, but

on both sides, their flowers face towards the path.  How do
they know where the path is, therefore the direction I'm
going to view them from?  They could just as easily be
facing away from the path, but they haven't, not once, in
three years of growing them.  Very strange.

Louise, Surrey, England







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