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Re: Foxglove

Deb, 
Today you wrote:
> I started some Foxglove "Foxy" seeds this spring, planted them, and they
> are doing great!  But I seem to recall someone saying the Foxy was an
> annual.  Is this true?  I thought all Digitalis was biennial, and would
> keep reseeding themselves. 
'Foxy' is essentially an annual if you grow it from a spring sowing.  It
will bloom in four or five months, and then be done.  However, if you sow
seed in August or September, the plants will overwinter outdoors and bloom
next spring/summer.  

I am currently re-selecting 'Foxy' for multiple-year blooming as well as
first-year blooming.  For example, I grew out 120 seedlings last year, and
had four or five of them survive last year's very mild winter.  In
contrast, a similar sized population of the true biennial 'Excelsior' had >
95% survival.  

I took self-pollinated seed on the three best bloomers of the five
survivors, and will be growing those out for subsequent selection work.  At
this point, it's a matter of numbers.  You make a cut of the strongest
seedlings, and then select the earliest-blooming of those in the first
year, and then only take seed on the early-blooming ones which also survive
the winter and bloom a second year.  The original 'Foxy' did this just
fine.  But over the years, it has drifted: seed for 'Foxy' is produced more
or less as an annual.  

In five years or so, I might have 'Foxy' re-selected, reliably blooming the
first year, and in (at least) a second year, and in separate colors.  

Thanks for asking!

Rick Grazzini
rickg@centrelab.com
USDA 6 / Sunset 43
in beautiful central PA, 
where the Nittany Lions roar, 
and JoePa refuses to grow old
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