Foxgloves

The first image here shows two of the several kinds of foxgloves I've grown in the past. I believe the short ones on the left are 'Apricot' and the ones on the right are 'Excelsior Hybrids.' I say "believe" because, as is too often the case, during the year-and-a-half or so between the seed and flower stages, plants may have gotten a little mixed up. In my experience, 'Excelsior Hybrids' and 'Giant Shirley' produced rather similar flowers on tall plants up to five feet. The photo here doesn't do justice to the color or flower form of 'Apricot.' Although the plants are smaller overall than the other varieties, the flowers are an exquisite peachy color and slightly less trumpet-shaped. They also seem to form the flowers mostly on one side of the stem and, as luck was with me this time, they faced the front of the border!

The plants behind these handsome devils is 'Foxy.' I bought the seedlings at our farmer's market a few years ago and they bloomed the following summer. From the ten seedlings I tried, I got six distinctly different colors ranging from white to pale yellow to light and dark pinks. The flower spikes were between three and four feet tall. Given the poor performance of these and the above cultivars in the shade I've given up on growing them. They're better suited to a sunnier border where I've seen them flowering much more densely.

This last plant is, D. ferruginea 'Herald Yellow', the rusty foxglove. The individual flowers are smaller than those on the hybrids, but I find them interesting and attractive. The leaves are narrower, too. The whole plant is about 30-36" tall. At the moment I have only a grouping of a few plants, but I've started a bunch more from seed that I collectected. This one is apparently a true biennial since they only formed the basal rosette of leaves last season. With any luck I should have lots of flowers this year.