Foxglove plugs

Quick update 4 months later.

Out of 12 foxglove plugs I bought and planted (6 in the garden and 6 in plant pots)

3 of the foxgloves in the pots are doing ok and have recently been replanted in bigger pots (one of them has started with the flower shoot). Only 1 of the foxgloves I planted direct in the garden has survived (the other 5 have completely vanished).

I also have one runt in a pot which is basically still alive, but is tiny (even smaller than when I first got it as a plug plant - so it has ultimately shrank. It also does not grow at all - which is a bit strange.

I guess the moral of my foxglove story so far is: Plant pots are better than garden.

With that said, now autumn is coming up. I take it that I should just leave the plants outside now?

 

My foxglove plugs, now in a large planter, are actually flowering. Once the flowers go over I will plant them out.

 

Took this photo today.

 

Most foxgloves are bi-ennials, so grow in their first year and flower in their second, then in most cases, die but produce seeds from their flowers. However there are these days many short-term perrenials. If you are careful and cut out spent flowers they may stay alive through the winter and give another show next year. I tend to grow foxgloves from seed so mine for next year are seedlings now some of which will be planted out this Autumn. Many will stay in their small pots in a sheltered spot or cold greenhouse. A good perrenial is Digitalis lutea, the yellow foxglove. Get some seed and try them!

 

These Delphiniums should be on the way to sleep just now,..plant them out and they will come along next Spring,

 

Delphiniums? They were sold to me as Foxglove plugs.

 

Just checked. It was me being stupid again (nothing unusual there). The photo is of Delphinium “Pacific Giants".
This is a photo of one of my Foxglove plugs taken today.

 

At least they're green and leafy, good on you!! Wait and see!!!

 

As you can see from the photo the flower spikes have nearly all gone over.

 

I was gonna say . . . . ummm!

 

Hope your plants were perrenial foxgloves, just prune off the spent flower spikes and mulch plants, and hope for the best. Non- flowered plants will survive to flower next year!

 

They were supposed to be perennial and were bought as part of a parcel of perennial plants, from Thompson and Morgan.

 

How can one tell? (edit; if foxgloves are perrenial or not)

 

Excellent point!! Some varieties are advertised as perrenial (short term only in my experience!) The yellow foxglove, lutea, is the best in my experience. Essentially the fact that foxgloves re-seed so well from their huge seed heads should mean that you'll get some plants every year in the bi-ennial cycle! However if your ultra tidy you might be removing the seeding part BEFORE they get the chance to do their stuff!

 

Update. October 2nd 2022.

One of the 3 pot planted foxglove plants appears to be flowering


Is this normal at this time of year?
Can anyone tell what type it is? As you can see the flower buds look pinky-yellow.

Any idea what the best thing to do is? Should I just leave the plants outside to do their thing?
I am thinking about any "reseeding" or reviving of the plants. Do they die off in winter?

The other 3 plants have not flowered (the one planted in the garden has not grown as well as the others in pots but is still surviving). The other 2 in the pots are really leafy, but no flower stem shoots like in the one I have posted here.