When To Sow Foxglove Seeds

When To Sow Foxglove Seeds?

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So you want to sow your own foxgloves seeds but don’t know when is the best time? Let me help you out.

When To Sow Foxglove Seeds
When To Sow Foxglove Seeds

When To Sow Foxglove Seeds?

If sowing indoors you can sow them in module trays before planting out when they are more established.

A lot of growers recommend growing young spring seedlings on in pots until the autumn and planting them out then.

I just plant them out in summer once they have become decent-sized plants and have never really had an issue.

Wild Sowing

One really easy way to sow foxgloves if you already have plants is to simply help scatter the seed pods from spent blooms.

Once your foxgloves have finished flowering you need to let the flowers die back and the seeds form.

You can then cut these seed heads off the plant, turn them upside down and give them a really good shake all over the spot you want them to grow.

Foxgloves are really efficient self-seeders and by doing this we are giving them even more of a head start and ensuring they will be successful.

How To Get A Foxglove Display Every Year

So if you want flowers every year what do you need to do? The answer is simple but requires a little more work to set up.

Essentially you need to have a staggered system set up, where you have some foxgloves in their first year and some in their second year at all times.

This means you will never be without flowers come summertime.

Foxgloves
Foxgloves

And the best thing about growing your foxgloves like this is that once it is up and running you can leave the plants to it. They will self-seed every year giving you fresh plants every year.

Then because the flowering is staggered the seeding will be staggered. So you will have a perpetual cycle of young plants not flowering and older plants flowering from now on. It goes without saying that with this method you need to let the plants self-seed, so no overactive deadheading!

You can still cut your foxgloves back, but wait until they have had time to scatter their seeds, or alternatively give them a shake yourself!

More On Foxgloves

Foxgloves (Digitalis) is a flowering plant that actually contains biennials, perennials and shrubs all under the common name foxglove. Most foxgloves that are grown in the UK are actually Biennial, they grow in their first year, flower in their second and then die off.

These plants are native to Europe and even parts of northern Africa, they are woodland plants and as such love a little bit of shade.

As most people are aware foxgloves are poisonous if digested. The active ingredient in foxgloves that makes them poisonous also works as a medicine as as such numerous drugs are made using foxgloves.

Fatalities are rare from foxgloves but they do occur and for this reason, it is important to take care when gardening with foxglove, wear gloves when handling them and make sure you avoid touching your eyes or mouth after handling them.

Most fatalities actually occur when the plant has been mistaken for something else and digested in large quantities.

There have also been numerous reports of young children dying after drinking the vase water that foxgloves have been in. This is definitely something to think about if you plan on using them as a cut flower and your house has children or grandchildren in it!

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