Foxglove
October 24th, 2005· Foxglove is also known as Witches’ Glove and Bloody Fingers.
· Foxglove is toxic and can poison young children who suck on flowers or leaves or who ingest the seeds. It is most potent just before the seeds ripen.
· The plant is native to Europe, but thousands of gardeners plant it each year in countries all around the world.
· Foxglove needs very little soil to flourish. It can be found growing in extremely dry areas and can even grow in cracks of brick and granite walls.
· The blossoms of foxglove are often described as thimble or bell shaped. They range in color from white speckled to pink to purple.
· The first year the plant produces basal leaves and no flowers. It can be fatally mistaken for Comfrey. Symptoms of foxglove poisoning include delirium, hallucinations, dizziness, irregular heartbeat and vomiting.
· The foxglove is rich in digitalis, which is a heart medication. When used properly, it has great healing powers.
by Mary M. Alward
October 24th, 2005 at 9:05 pm
What a beautiful photo of the foxglove. These are my favorite flowers and you have listed such great facts about them. I didn’t know that foxglove could flourish with very little soil, nor did I realize they were poisonous. Thanks for educating me on these facts.
October 25th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
Foxglove are wonderful. I have several different colors in my garden and wish that they lasted longer. They are magical flowers that make me think of fairies.
October 26th, 2005 at 9:16 am
Interesting! We’ve got lots of foxgloves nearby and my children love the colour of them. As a family, we’re trying to get the kids interested in gardening, so more facts about flowers would be great. They’ve already grown sunflowers (they went down a treat) and they’ve got their own pots with various bulbs planted in them.
October 26th, 2005 at 5:35 pm
Philippa,
My grandsons and I garden all the time. We plant bulbs in the fall, clean and mulch flower beds in the spring and plant annuals. This year we grew sunflowers and they were huge. If you leave the heads on the stalk, the birds come to eat them in fall. That attracts a wide variety of birds to your yard. We have a lot of fun and the boys love gardening.
October 26th, 2005 at 5:38 pm
This is interesting. I was doing a search on different species of flowers and happened by here. This is a great website. Please add more flower facts. I’m particulary interested in orchids, roses, delphiniums, hollyhocks, cosmos, gladioli, iris, bachelor buttons, sweet william and other flowers like our grandmothers grew in their gardens in the 50s. Hope you can accommodate. I’ve learned a lot reading the facts on this site.
October 26th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
I love the picture of the foxglove. I’ve tried to grow them but have never had any luck. Could anyone tell me why?
October 26th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
I think maybe your are overwatering them. My wife and I grow them and they are easy to grow. They don’t like to be too wet, so be sure to let them dry out before watering again. It’s worth a try because they make such a great showing in a garden. Put them alongside some bachelor buttons or other blue flowers and they make a stunning show.
October 26th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
Sally,
The only thing I can think of is that they are getting too much water. Do the leaves turn yellow before they die? If so, cut back on watering. Foxgloves don’t like to get their feet wet. LOL
October 27th, 2005 at 3:50 am
Hey, where did my previous post go? No matter. Sally, I think that your foxgloves are getting too wet. Do the leaves turn yellow before they die? Cut back on water and see how they do. I think you will find out that makes a big difference. Also, they like alkaline soil. Buy some fertilizer from your local garden store or nursery.
October 27th, 2005 at 5:51 pm
Grandma has a foxglove in her garden that looks just like the photo. It is beautiful.
October 28th, 2005 at 5:52 pm
I too love the photo of the Foxglove. They are beautiful. I have them growing all along my fence. Flowergardener, they also remind me of fairies.
October 28th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
Foxglove is also known as Witches’ Glove and Bloody Fingers.
This fact is very interesting. I’ve heard gardeners talk about witches gloves, but didn’t know what they were.
Foxglove needs very little soil to flourish. It can be found growing in extremely dry areas and can even grow in cracks of brick and granite walls.
This is amazing. I never knew that foxgloves needed so little soil. I’ve heard of other flowers flourishing in cracks of walls etc., but never foxgloves. I am learning lots here tonight and find this site amazing.
October 29th, 2005 at 10:16 pm
This is very cool trivia about foxgloves. Mom used to grow them in her garden when I was a kid.
October 30th, 2005 at 8:32 pm
Foxgloves are my favorite biannual. They do look a bit like faeries skirts, don’t they?
November 1st, 2005 at 11:24 pm
Aw! Fairies skirts my aunt used to call them. I guess the comparison to foxglove and fairies isn’t new. My aunt has been gone almost 30 years now, but I will never forget her beautiful garden.
Foxglove needs very little soil to flourish. It can be found growing in extremely dry areas and can even grow in cracks of brick and granite walls.
I found this tidbit fascinating. Many people have trouble growing foxglove. Maybe they are too kind to it.
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:47 pm
What a beautiful photo of a foxglove. These are one of my favorite flowers. Nature is wonderful. Keep bringing on the flower facts. Maybe one on poppies since it is so close to November 11th?
May 31st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I have successfully grown foxgloves for years. I have a rock garden and the foxgloves reseed themselves. Of course, it’s important to know what a foxglove seedling looks like or else you could mistake them for a dandaleon and weed them out. I cover them with some leaves in the fall. Some of them die but enough make it through the winter. The fist thing I do in the spring is to move them where I want them since the ones that make it are usually under a bush or in a corner somewhere.
I disagree that foxgloves don’t need much water. Last year, we had a lot of rain, and then no rain for a few days in mid June. During the dry spell, I sat back and admired my foxgloves and the next thing I knew, many of them died from lack of water. This year I am giving them tons of water and they love it. No yellow leaves. I do have them in a rock garden and this year even added some mulch so the ones in the sun don’t dry out. I fertilize them with miracle grow in early spring and then again at the end of may before they bloom.
I am proud to say that my foxgloves last the whole summer, although they are most spectacular in June. My secret? I pinch of the bells as soon as they die, before they go to seed. That makes more side shoots which keep going. I also have found that some which do seed in the early part of the season, sometimes bloom in the fall!
Incidentally, because I am obsessive about removing spent flowers before they go to seed, my columbines last longer than my neighbors, well into July. I lose them when I go on vacation and am not around to deadhead them.
Back to the foxgloves, I do a lot of staking and tieing with old stockings cut into strips so they stand up straight. Nonetheless, the tops keep drooping unless I tie them as they grow and grow they do, some to 5 feet plus. I don’t know if they droop because I am doing something wrong– too much fertilizer?– or if they is just the nature of the plant.
Hope this helps.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
cautionary tale. a woman from chicago was out foraging in pennsylvania last week and mistook foxglove for some other plant. she blended it in her smoothie and drank it. she did the same the next day. after violently vomiting, she was taken to the hospital. she was in the hospital around 24 hours but they were unable to counter the effects of the poison. her heart stopped and she died. i say this so that you are mindful of the plant, especially around kids. i have read that it is a bitter plant and not one that kids would eat, but it’s probably best to at least know how strong the poison can be for a healthy adult.