Lesson learned

Dappled Shade - Check!

Moist but good draining soil (in that part of the garden - clay, mixed in with a lot of compost and gravel as the chicken run used to be there) - Check!

I notice the slugs eat them as well :(

 

Doesn't poison those little £*%&($% though does it?


Do they produce seeds even if they haven't been germinated? Bit of a textbook question that but I don't know the answer so maybe you guys do.

 

Here are my Foxglove related observations:
* In the wild, they seem to thrive best on bank sides, often where nothing else much is growing
* In my garden they thrive near the Leylandii hedge. This is poor soil and very free draining
* They don't seem to care if they get full sun or almost full shade, or anything in between
* From seed, they prefer to be kept wetter than most seeds until they've germinated
* The seeds germinate better if they are exposed to cooler temperature (though not necessarily really cold like some seeds need).
* On my piece of land in the country, I planted some on a very free draining bank side where Gorse had once been. They are thriving. I also planted some on flat ground that doesn't drain freely, where I'd thinned some Blackthorn. Those ones are struggling.
* I've seen them in coniferous woods, but not thriving. They seem to prefer deciduous woods. Perhaps that means the soil should be neutral to alkaline (as I believe rotting pine needles make for slightly acid soil).
* The patch on my land where the Foxglove thrives has good but shallow top soil down to about 2 inches, then it is very sandy.

Can you get any clues from any of that?

 

First year I left the seed heads on and shook them everywhere in autumn. Nothing.

Last year I bought a pack of seeds and shook them everywhere. They germinated, but then disappeared. Admittedly me digging a hole to plant a fern there didn't help! But some should have survived.

I think it might be the soil - too rich for them. The young plants I have there now are growing, when the slugs don't eat them. As I want to get another Leucantheum (thanks for reminding me on that one Claire!) I might pop another couple of foxglove plants in and see what they do.


An apology to Steve for slightly hijacking his thread!

 

A couple, mine do very very well under the oak trees so it's a safe bet they like it very free draining.

I get a few popping up in the sunny spots, but most turn up under the oaks where they get dappled shade and vast amounts of leaf mould.

Interestingly they do well in the same place that the astilbes do well-they often scrap about who wants to be where.

Fits in with your obs on decidous trees, and it is quite nippy up here, yet my garden is protected from the majority of frosts.

As far as liking to be wetter fro germination it does chuck it down here as well.

 

We have many wild foxgloves up here in the lakes, but they always seem to do particularly well where ferns/bracken are. I dont know if that has any bearing on how well they grow or not, but here is one colony of Foxgloves on the side of Catbells near Keswick, incidentally these will be in full sunshine all day.



Steve...

No problem, makes for interesting reading/discussion.

Steve...

 

"Foxgloves are outrageously promiscuous ... "

I'll make a quick glance in the garden next time I go out - wouldn't want to catch them "inflagranti delicto" :lol:

 

I have often had to avert my gaze lol, and Steve, if that's the view from your back garden you are one lucky fellow.


It does seem to fit with leaf mould being a necessary factor-and rain of course lol.

 

There's no leaf mould in the two places on my territory where they thrive, yet there is leaf mould in the one place on my patch where they struggle. In the wild I've seen them thriving in places where there is no leaf mould.

My money is on this combo:
* Slightly starved soil
* Cool and wet at germination
* Very free draining nearly dry soil once established.

But then I don't think we could ever pin it down because I've seen it breaking every rule we've come up with so far.

 

I really wonder if its just slugs eating the seedlings? They're quick enough to nibble the larger plants, so seedlings would have no chance.

I have lots of the ideal conditions for them, so it can't be that.

 

I agree, I can't pin it down either-they go like the clappers where all the leaves fall.


Maybe it is worth resigning yourself to growing them in pots where you can keep the slugs away Aaron-at least until the large rosette is formed.