July and there is something magical when the foxgloves are out in full bloom in the garden. I think this year has been one of the best for foxgloves in our own garden. You need to plant them for two years in a row when first planting out, so you can get flowers each year and then they are freely self sowing and pop up in the borders continuously.
Foxgloves are wild flowers, but a favourite in the garden too, with their bell shaped flowers and tall spires. They stand out graceful and elegant in the borders bearing their tall and dramatic tubular flowers. Bees are drawn to them: it's fascinating to watch them climb up and inside the bells, gathering the nectar and then see them crawling back down, buzzing in and out - over and over. I could just stop and stare for minutes on end!
The foxglove has many associations with folklore, especially fairies - it has folk names such as fairy fingers and fairy bells. In days gone by, they used to say if you wish for fairies in your garden then plant a foxglove where you want them to live. There must be lots of fairies living in my garden now! It was also believed that foxgloves could lure fairies and be used to break the enchantment and spells they put on humans.
They are a poisonous plant containing digitalis, yet this substance is a potent heart medicine and is contained in a drug called digoxin, which is used to help heart rhythm and sometimes heart failure. It's a little contradictory it saves lives, but can poison people too. It's a drug that helped me once, so perhaps that's another reason I like them.
Foxgloves like to grow in woodland and dappled shade, they especially like growing in the hedgerows. Mine love the shady borders, but seem thrive just as well in the sunny borders too.
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