Perennial
Purple foxglove
Digitalis purpurea
A tall flowering biennial or short-lived perennial that forms a leaf rosette before sending up vertical flower spikes. It grows in sun or partial shade in moist, well-drained soil, but all parts are highly toxic if eaten.
- Size
- 0.6–2 m high · 0.3–0.6 m wideVaries by cultivar
- Light
- Full sun / Partial shade
- Water
- Moderate
- Winter
- Very hardy
- Seasonal form
- Deciduous
- Maintenance
- Moderate
Before planting
- All parts contain cardiac glycosides and are highly toxic if eaten; do not plant where accidental ingestion is likely.
- Seed-grown plants usually form a low rosette in the first year and flower on tall stems in the second.
- Choose moist, humus-rich but drained soil; prolonged drought reduces flowering, while waterlogged ground is also unsuitable.
Why choose it
- Tall one-sided flower spikes add strong vertical colour to cottage, woodland-edge and naturalistic planting.
- The flowers are valuable to pollinators and plants can maintain a colony by self-seeding where this is acceptable.
Care
- Water in dry periods so the soil does not remain parched during active growth.
- Deadhead after flowering if you do not want self-seeding; leave some spikes to seed if you want the population to persist.
- Wear gloves when handling or removing plants and keep cut material away from children and animals.
Good to know
- Some cultivars can flower in their first year, while other plants may behave as short-lived perennials rather than strict biennials.