Common Foxglove

Description:

Elegant tubular flowers in shades of straberry pink, white or purple with dark spots in the center; attractive green lance-shaped leaves; a biennial that's happiest in part-shade with adequate moisture

Ornamental Features:

Common Foxglove features bold spikes of pink tubular flowers with deep purple spots rising above the foliage from early to mid summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It's pointy leaves remain green in colour throughout the season. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes:

Common Foxglove is an herbaceous perennial with a rigidly upright and towering form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This perennial will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

Common Foxglove is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Mass Planting
• Vertical Accent
• Container Planting

Plant Characteristics:

Common Foxglove will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity extending to 5 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 30 inches. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 feet from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. It grows at a fast rate, and tends to be biennial, meaning that it puts on vegetative growth the first year, flowers the second, and then dies. However, this species tends to self-seed and will thereby endure for years in the garden if allowed.

This perennial does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This plant can be propagated by seed.

This species is not originally from North America, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.