Digitalis purpurea

Foxglove is a European import with tall, bold blooms in many colors. It prefers moist, well-drained soil high in organic matter that should not be allowed to dry out. Foxglove does best with afternoon shade. It is a biennial,  having only a rosette of leaves the first year. The second-year a tall spike appears with showy blooms on a densely packed one-side raceme. Deadhead after flowering to avoid excessive numbers of seedlings, but some flowers must go to seed to maintain a permanent planting as if they were perennials.

Use to add a vertical dimension to the perennial flower bed. They are attractive in front of walls and shrubs and planted in mass.

Family name previously Schrophulariaceae

Quick ID Hints:

• Perennial herb with basal rosette of downy leaves
• Terminal raceme of large pendulous flowers
• Corolla tube inflated, funnel-form bell-shaped
• Inner tube whitish with purplish edging & maculati

Erect perennial herb 2-5' tall.

Blooms late spring to early summer; utilized under trees, shady locations,woodlands, natural settings, borders; must water copiously in dry weather and during southern heat loads. Prefers partial shade, moist, well-drained, acidic soils with abundant humus; fungal diseases and aphids, Japanese beetles, and mealy bugs are problems.

'Excelsior Hybrids' - flowers borne around the rachis, available in pastel shades and maculation in tube fairly easy to view.