PlantFiles: Strawberry Foxglove, Merton's Foxglove
Digitalis x mertonensis

I too am looking for a truly perennial foxglove. This is year 2, so I'm not certain this will be it yet. Last year the foliage grew and grew, but it did not bloom. This year it is just beginning to bloom -- all the flowers are not yet open. I like it very much and hope it really will return every year. The foliage seems to look nicer than other foxgloves I've had -- very lush and green. Update - it is continuing to progress in bloom from the bottom up. The flower stalks and flowers are large and robust. It is quite substantial overall and very lovely. The bees love it--there is a bee in just about every individual flower.

I have had this cultivar "strawberry" and another "apricot" in my gardens for five years now. Having grown them from seed, I can say that unlike the purpura that blooms the second year and dies, mine have taken up to three years to reach a blooming maturity. As yet, the only mother plants I have lost was due to too much water. This cultivar does seem to prefer full sun, sandy soil, and little assistance from well intentioned gardeners. I just leave them alone with the salvias and lavander and they reward me with a show every year.

I like this variety of Foxglove because it keeps producing new flower stalks all Summer long. I had flower stalks pretty much the whole time from mid-May through mid-September.

Started blooming late winter and continued into summer. Beautiful.

Easy from seed and truly perennial in my garden. It blooms for a relatively long period, and the flowers are an unusual, pretty shade of rose. It is charming in a woodland cottage garden and adds a nice vertical element. In order to ensure that it blooms, I have found it needs to be fertilized when it starts putting on new growth in the spring.

Just a note, most foxgloves are biennial, which means they only live for 2 years. They get leaves the first year and flowers the second. I'm trying to find an actual, perennial foxglove... Spanish Peaks (Digitalis thapsi?) claims to be one. However, I *think* most that are described as perennial aren't really. They just say that because they self sow very readily.

I planted 3 of these years ago and only one made it to flower. I must have had it in too much shade (under a Blue Spruce), because it was short and sad looking, lol. Also, the flowers on mine were more of a peachy-rose color (not really a "crushed strawberry" color). The fact that it was fuzzy made it stand out from my other foxgloves, though.

Grows beautifully here in Auburn, AL.

I bought four strawberry foxglove this spring for the back of my shade garden. While the foliage is beautiful, only one of the four plants bloomed.

Digitalis x mertonensis seems to be more drought tolerant than Digitalis purpurea, and it blooms a couple weeks later. My plants have done well for three years now, even though they're planted in sandy soil in full sun. Of course, they get regular watering. I love the soft strawberry color, which goes well with warm color schemes.

Several years ago I bought a foxglove which was beautiful but never came back. Not knowing a lot about this lovely flower, I tried Strawberry Foxglove this year as it was listed as a perennial. It has sun in the early morning and shade during the afternoon. The plant looks healthy and leafy but it is now August and it has no sign of flowers.

A tetraploid hybrid, biennial or short-lived perennial. Flowers are larger than those of either parent and are borne in terminal racemes atop leafy, 3-4' tall spires arising from the centers of basal rosettes. Pendulous, 2-3" long, tubular, funnel-shaped, coppery-rose flowers are closely grouped along each spike. Flowers are attractive to hummingbirds. Mertonensis tolerates full sun, but performs well with some shade.