Foxglove plugs

It is annoying how plants in our gardens seem not to have read the books and do things the vast majority dont!!! Obviously the plant that's flowering is doing it a few months in advance, whilst the others are behaving like bi-ennials and waiting til next Spring/Summer! No I wouldn't cut it off but enjoy it, when the buds open, along with the Bumble Bees. Will that plant die then? Your opinion is as good as mine! I'd certainly cut the flower off then though, and that plant might continue growing then!
My plants that flowered this Summer are being tidied away now. Thus the dry flowering shoots are being cut down to the ground and taken over to other parts and any seeds still there being shaken on the ground, not many left now as the stiff stalk has been shaken where it stood by any winds! One or two of my plants thus treated have thrown up new shoots hopefully for next Spring, I'm crossing my fingers! On one stalk there was a small shoot so I'm taking that as a cutting! I also seem to remember reading that you can take root cuttings from Foxgloves but have never done it myself! Perhaps there's somebody on here who has???
Looking at your photo I notice that the florets are growing all round the stalk. The wild foxglove only has florets on one side so it suggests that yours has been crossed with another, I.e. a hybrid, so could be one of these so called perrenials ?? The first hybrids I grew, and still do every year, are the Excelsior Hybrids. Shows my age but they're still brilliant! Tall, multicoloured and with florets right around the stalk. Well worth growing. If you've got a greenhouse to start them give them a try. Like all foxgloves sow them finely on top of good compost as they need light to germinate. I help this with a light scattering of vermiculite which also helps stopping them drying out!

 

I've been buying foxglove seeds from Plant World Seeds by the way!

 

10 days further on:


It is leaning as one can see. Is that normal or does this plant need repotting (again) or maybe even putting out into the garden?

Not a yellow variety as one can clearly see. Are those markings inside the flower head normal?

Weird that it started to flower in mid October. I realise it is not exactly the arctic around here, but nor is it a warmer climate.
Still, this is the only flowering colour in the garden except a penstemon (similar flower, right?) which is just about clinging on.

 

We have daffodils, in a planter, starting to poke through!

 

Not too sure why some plants flower out-of-turn but usually flowering is stimulated by light, how much light to how much dark per 24 hours. Thus when you get the unusual the rowth hormones stimulated by the light have either not been present or have!!! Well something like rhat!!!
Your foxglove is normal colour and bee-attracting spots are also normal. The structure of the particular plant are caused by how it was grown, I.e. if it was grown 'traditionally', seedling pricked out into ground perhaps then it would have produced normal straight, flowering stems. Seedlings, perhaps delayed in their planting out, 'rush' into growth and appear stunted. I grow Salvias from seed and this year have delayed sowing, and planting out!!! Dreadful!!! One plant had thin straggly stems like drooping plants so I planted them on the edge of a rockery! They're flowering normally but will survive the Winter, I'll cut them down in the spring and next Summer they'll sprout and shoot up normally!! Chances are I might have to dig them up and transplant much further back as they'll grow to at least a metre!! That's because it's a perrenial. IF your foxglove is a perrenial, it will behave similarly so I'd cut the flowering shoot off when it dies down and hope the plant stays alive. Yes you could plant it out in the ground, perhaps against a wall to shelter it. Do it soon as there's still some warmth in the soil!!!

 

As well as the annual and perennial foxgloves I grow Rehmannia elata the "Chinese Foxglove" perennial, selfseeds around itself, larger flowers, good flowering season and seems to be pest free. Originally seed came from Plant World Seeds.

 

Plant flowering is complex, daylength and temperature are important factors; also plant size and how long since it last flowered especially in plants that only flower once a year.
This year I've certainly noticed some plants having shorter flowering seasons, also a number have been later into flower waiting until there had been some rain. Rain has also induced a second flush of flowers on some plants.