Annuals & Biennials

Digitalis
foxglove

- Height 3-5 ft (90-150 cm)
- Planting distance 11/2 ft (45 cm)
- Flowers early summer to midsummer
- Any moisture-retentive soil
- Sun or partial shade
- Hardy biennial; may be grown as an annual

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) combines strength and delicacy, growing 5 ft (150 cm) high in good conditions, yet needing no support for its gracefully arching stems. In early summer and midsummer these stems, rising from rosettes of green leaves, turn into one-sided spires of spotted red-purple or white bell-shaped flowers. Foxgloves make excellent border plants, even in winter, when their rosettes of foliag3e form good ground cover. They also look very effective in a semiwild corner of the garden.

Popular species and cultivars
Several cultivars of common foxglove are readily available.
'Alba' has pure white flowers, suitable for cutting.
'Apricot' has apricot flowers.
'Excelsior Hybrids' have tall spikes of maroon-spotted white, cream, pink, and carmine flowers.
'Foxy' is a dwarf hybrid strain, about 3 ft (90 cm) tall, with flower spikes in white, cream, pink, and carmine, all spotted with maroon. It blooms during its first year of growth.

Annuals
and
Biennials