Guess what I saw today...

I kid you not, I saw a white foxglove in bloom in somebody's front garden today. It was definitely foxglove, and it was definitely in bloom, outdoors, here in England.

This puzzled me because foxglove is an early to mid summer flower.

All I can think they must have done is they must have grown it under glass and then planted it out recently.

Does this puzzle anyone else or is it some different winter flowering variety?

 

Wouldn't the frost and cold have killed it if it were grown indoors and then suddenly planted outside in winter? Maybe its a very hardy foxglove left over from summer!

 

It looked remarkably fresh. When foxglove experiences its first winter, the stalk and flowers usually die off completely, leaving just the leaves at the base. Some of those even take a bit of damage from the cold. I can't imagine there being any possibility under normal circumstances of the flowers still being on from last summer, but they were there.

The whole plant looked remarkably fresh. I didn't see any frost damage, no sign of a previous year's growth. The only explanation that seems even close to logical to me is that it was grown indoors, then literally just planted out this weekend, so the weather hasn't had chance to take its toll, but to be honest I struggle a bit even with that explanation.

There is one other possible explanation. Perhaps it was a very, very convincing artificial one. Who knows. I might walk past again next weekend and see if it is still there and if so, see if it has signs of the weather taking its toll.

 

I wouldn't listen to me either way. I have a total inability to grow foxgloves, be that from self seeding, carefully sowing the seeds myself or even from a small plant bought in. Just can't grow them, which is a shame as I have ideal conditions for them here and I love them :(

 

Its funny how things like that work out. There are certain things that I just can't grow, even though everyone tells me they are easy, and other stuff that works without effort for me. I've heard many people report similar accounts with various different plants.

I never have trouble with foxglove. I often get wild ones appearing at random in my garden, and have grown many cultivars from seed. It does take a while to germinate (about a month). All I do is fill some plug trays with compost and then wet the compost with warm water. I then just put two or three seeds per plug on the surface, and sprinkle lightly with warm water. Leave it somewhere light and airy indoors (my attic is good for that) and I just check every couple of days and make sure there is a small amount of water in the tray that the plug tray sits in. If the compost starts to dry, I add a small amount of water to the bottom tray and let the compost draw it up. That way the surface never gets to wet which can rot the seeds and encourage mould.

After the seeds have germinated and pruduced the first pair of leaves, I cut off the weakest looking plants in each plug, leaving just the one strongest. I don't pull them out for fear of upseting the fine roots of the other seedlings in the same compost. I keep them indoors in the plugs until they have very much outgrown the plugs, taking the whole tray outside for a few hours per day when the weather is mild, so that they can train up for their imminent new life outdoors. Only when they have seriously outgrown the plugs do I transfer them to their new homes, that way the roots structure binds the compost well so they don't tear off when I get them out.

My method is probably not orthodox, but it works very well for me.

One thing you have to watch out for though is aphids. They seem to love to attack young plants that are growing indoors. If I spot any, I just pick them off with my fingers and squish them, or if there are a lot, I just smudge them off with my thumb. You have to remember to check the underside of the leaves and the folds where the leaves connect to the stem, as that's where they love to hide.

 

It is odd, I don`t have to do a thing-just throw a packet of seeds over the area and off they go. But for some insane reason-can`t do lupins!!!!But I have a cunning plan-planters! that way I am hoping to fool them into thinking it isn`t in actual fact my garden.

 

I would go for the artificial option.

 

I seem to have a hang up with Clematis and honeysuckle.
They take one look at may garden and promise to grown ''weakly'' only.

 

I saw these plants in full flower while away at Christmas.I have seen Daffodils in flower at that time of the year before but never a Foxglove or Evening Primrose.We were staying down at Minehead so I expect the warmth of the water was helping them to flower earlier...

 

Plants and flowers-aren`t they remarkable!!!