Description
Digitalis purpurea | ‘Sugar Plum’ Foxglove
Foxglove, also known as Ladys Glove, is a large woodland wildflower that’s widely popular because of it’s dramatic form and color in the garden. Foxglove makes some of the best cottage garden and early summer garden plants and cut flowers.
‘Sugar Plum’ is one of the most vivid and visually pleasing Foxglove varieties, displaying rich pink bell-shaped flowers saturated with burgundy-purple throats. During the first year, it will grow into a large rosette of foliage. The second year the plants will shoot up 4-6 ft tall, upright, flower spikes that bloom from the bottom up. If you remove the first main flower spike early it will encourage more ‘prince’ flowers from the base. May need staking.
Drought tolerant and thrives in sandy, well-drained soil and gravel. Full shade to full sun. Benefits from midday shade in the hottest regions. Dead-head for prolonged blooms.
Although it’s a biennial it acts (in a way) as a perennial by self-seeding each year. It’s best to direct sow seed outdoors during late winter/early spring rains however they can be started easily indoors as well. Foxglove will self seed freely, but some can revert to the wild color form, so pull out any seedlings with red stems if you want them to remain pure.
A variety of pollinators including honeybees, bumblebees, hummingbirds, butterflies and moths find it hard to resist the flower towers. Deer and pest resistant.
Caution: All parts of the plant are highly toxic if ingested.
Type: Perennial or short-lived perennial
Sun exposure: Part shade to full sun
Mature height: 4-6 ft
Mature width: 12-18 inches
Hardiness zones: 5-9
