PlantFiles: Foxglove
Digitalis purpurea 'Foxy Mix'

This beautiful plant has been a perennial for me in Northern California. This is the 3rd season and second to bloom(the first year I planted too late). I am hoping for a fourth season, but will not expect it.

I took some of the extremely tiny seeds and germinated them with ease in December. I'm just about ready to transplant outdoors to have a full bed of these beauties, hopefully for late summer bloom.

"Foxy" is marketed as an "annual foxglove" (as opposed to the usual biennial digitalis.) While it will bloom in the fall from an early spring sowing, I've found that much better plants result if they are seeded in the fall and left in the ground over the winter months like other foxgloves.

It's a very nice plant. It doesn't mind a fair amount of shade, a good bit of drying out, and of course it IS a foxglove. I love the fuller look of "Foxy" foxgloves taller relative much better, comparing to the first season blooms mine made this august. I have a small patch of 15 or so Foxys in a shady spot that becomes quite arid at times, in southern Maryland. The soil is clay amended with sand and some loamy soil. They were started extremely early, like beginning of February, and still only sported a few blooms all and all. **Not truly annual for me** I'm hoping they'll shock the hell out of me this May though, it's a perfect woodland setting by the road to show off those dramatic bells.

I've searched for information indicating that Digitalis can be propagated from slips but didn't find anything. Has anyone had experience with that? In October I had a couple of Digitalis that were still alive and in bloom after a couple of nights with temperatures around 25 degrees. I cut off the flowering stalks on both plants and put them in a vase of water. Both flowering stalks continued to flower over the next 4 weeks. One of the flower stalks is now producing new growth and developing roots. Unfortunately my wife threw the other flower stalk out when it finished blooming so I don't know if it would have produced roots and new growth as well, but I suspect it would have since it survived and flowered almost 4 weeks in the vase. I would like to hear if anyone else has experience with growing Digitalis from slips.

Does well over the winter here in Houston, Texas. Doesn't always make it through the summer, but is super easy to grow from seed and blooms the following late spring if sown in the fall. Seeds are super cheap too which makes it a real plus!

Yes this will grow and flurish in Phoenix! I planted this last fall. It sat pretty much dormant for December and Januray. But once Feb and the 70 degree weather arrived. The plants took off. I planted 10 plants and now have over 25 flower shoots just starting to bloom. Not sure if they will be back next year. I doubt that they will make it through our heat. But the beautiful color and stately flowers are a needed change in this part of the country/world.

I almost hesitate to praise this flower because of the simple fact that I didn't expect it to return this year. Bienniual? Tell that to my plant. She's tall and gorgeous again this year. I did let her go to seed last year, and I think that may have something to do with it. She's blooming so much and is a much needed punch in an area with blues and purples.

I tried growing a "Foxy" in my north-facing front garden. After putting in the ground in May, it seemed to be in stasis, not growing much at all until early July. It then grew into a large mound of foliage, but still no flowers. Finally, in mid-September, the first flower spikes emerged. Unfortunately, the grasshoppers chewed through the first one and felled it like so much timber. At least two more survived and finally flowered in late September. They grew to about 4 feet and put on a rather spectacular display while the other plants around it were in decline. Foxy survived several hard frosts into October, only to perish in heavy snow just before Halloween. I hoped that being biennial, it would return the next year... but alas, it was dead and gone. It was nice while it lasted, but I would hesitate to try it again. It was very nice to look at, but because it bloomed so late I had little time to enjoy it.

Update: I planted them again in 2011, with much the same results. No grasshoppers this time, so I got to see them undamaged. Again, it wasn't until late September when they flowered. I am still astounded at their cold tolerance and how they survived multiple nights of below freezing temperatures. It might have been their close proximity to the house, and getting enough radiant heat from the foundation.

Unlike most foxgloves, this cultivar will bloom the first year it is planted, assuming it's started early enough.