Digitalis purpurea
Foxglove
Common names: Red Foxglove, Common Foxglove, Forest Bell
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Pot size
- from 10 l
- Lifespan
- Biennial
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −25 °C
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Bernd Haynold · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The red foxglove produces tall spikes of purple bell-shaped flowers in June and July, favoring woodland edges and partially shaded beds. It is a favorite of bumblebees. As a biennial, it blooms in its second year and reliably self-seeds thereafter. It is highly poisonous in all parts and should be kept out of reach of children.
Care instructions
Sow the seeds in summer (June, week 25) as a light scatter, pressing them lightly into the soil. It prefers partially shaded sites with humus-rich, fresh soil. Water during dry periods. Leave some seed heads after flowering so the plant can reseed each year. Wear gloves when pruning and wash hands afterward, as the sap can irritate the skin.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMay–Jul
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 10 °C, ideally 18 °C
- Days to sprout
- 14 to 28 days
- Light
- Needs light to sprout
- Sowing depth
- Press in, don't cover
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, moist, lime-avoiding
Give foxglove a lime-poor, slightly acidic and humus-rich soil. It avoids lime and feels most at home at woodland edges and in open, light places. The soil should be loose, free-draining and evenly fresh; it does not tolerate waterlogging, and you loosen heavy clay soils with sand and mature compost.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
Foxglove grows best in humus-rich soil with a moderate supply of nutrients. It is not a survivor of poor soils, but it does not need heavy feeding either. In spring, work in a little mature compost shallowly or spread half-rotted leaves around the plant; this feeds it gently and keeps the soil loose. Do not overdo the nitrogen.
Overwintering
Foxglove is biennial and hardy: the flat leaf rosette from the first year survives the winter in the ground without protection, with no need for digging up or fleece. In the second year it flowers, self-seeds and dies; leave the seed heads standing and sow or plant in alternate years, and you will have flowers every year.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
The easiest way to propagate foxglove is by sowing; it is also the only truly practical method. The seed is a light germinator: scatter it on moist seed compost and press it down only lightly, but do not cover it with soil. To start it indoors, sow from March to May in seed trays or pots and keep evenly moist (best under cover or in a mini greenhouse, so the surface does not dry out); sowing directly into an outdoor seedbed works in May or June. Germination usually takes around two to three weeks. For continuous flowering every year, you sow in two successive years, since Digitalis purpurea is biennial: in the first year the plant forms only a leaf rosette, in the second year it flowers and then dies. Even easier: leave a few seed heads standing after flowering. Foxglove reliably self-seeds in suitable, partly shaded, humus-rich spots and establishes a lasting population there. Cuttings or division are not practical for this biennial species, as Digitalis purpurea usually forms only a single rosette with one flowering shoot and a sensitive taproot; no divisible daughter rosettes develop. (The propagation via basal side shoots that is possible with some perennial foxglove species does not apply to this species.)
Companion planting
Good neighbors
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
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