Strawberry Foxglove

Few plants rival the spires of foxglove for adding stately drama to a bed or border.  They boast large, bell shaped blooms in colors ranging from white, yellow, and shell pink to lavender, magenta, and deep rose.  Foxgloves enjoy partial shade and moist, well drained soil.  If you have sand or hard clay, add plenty of organic matter before you plant.  Foxgloves are biennial, growing leaves one year and blooming the next.  In most of the South, transplants set out in the fall remain a handsome rosette of foliage through winter.  In the spring, the flower stalk will rocket skyward, some reaching 7 feet tall, depending upon the selection.  Cutting is a good way to control exceptionally tall plants.  By the time the tip of the stalk begins to bloom, the lower portions are producing ripening seeds.  If you cut off the stalk at this point, the plant usually sprouts more spikes.  If you leave the seeds, the plants may self-sow, so that they produce new seedlings.  In the summer, foxgloves may become weak and bedraggled when spider mites attack the foliage.   Rather than spraying, it is easier to pull up the plants each spring, and plant new foxgloves in the fall.