@msqingxiao - re biennials, it works exactly as you experienced. You sow seeds, they start to grow this year and you get flowers the next year. This year's flowers will drop seeds that will give you next year's flowers.
Thanks! Though I also read somewhere else that to have them every year you'll need to do two consecutive years' sowing? Or is it as you explained, I sowed last year and have flowers now this year, and the seeds from the flowers this year will flower next year? So actually I only need to sow one batch?
Thinking again about this, I'm wondering if I'm giving you bad advice.
I noticed in my garden this weekend a lot of young foxglove seedlings (which will clearly not be ready to flower until next year) which must be from last year's flowering plants (since this year's flowering foxgloves are in flower and haven't set seed yet). It's made me wonder if this year's flower seeds will only germinate next year, after overwintering as seeds in the ground. If so, this would explain why you were advised to sow 2 years in a row.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum who can confirm if this is the case...
I'm always surprised to see Digitalis purpurea albas described as perennials. What are people's experiences with their longevity? Any different from other purpureas?
The ‘Dalmatian’ cultivars are different to the native Digitalis purpurea, whether ‘Alba’ or not. They can flower in their first year and if the conditions are favourable can re-flower for two or three years …but they’re not long-lasting perennials.
😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@msqingxiao - re biennials, it works exactly as you experienced. You sow seeds, they start to grow this year and you get flowers the next year. This year's flowers will drop seeds that will give you next year's flowers.
Thanks! Though I also read somewhere else that to have them every year you'll need to do two consecutive years' sowing? Or is it as you explained, I sowed last year and have flowers now this year, and the seeds from the flowers this year will flower next year? So actually I only need to sow one batch?
Thinking again about this, I'm wondering if I'm giving you bad advice.
I noticed in my garden this weekend a lot of young foxglove seedlings (which will clearly not be ready to flower until next year) which must be from last year's flowering plants (since this year's flowering foxgloves are in flower and haven't set seed yet). It's made me wonder if this year's flower seeds will only germinate next year, after overwintering as seeds in the ground. If so, this would explain why you were advised to sow 2 years in a row.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum who can confirm if this is the case...
Haha no worries. I'll sow more this year to be on the safe side. Will need to wait for the current ones to finish flowering and die down before I can have room in the patch to plant out the new seedlings though...
@borgadr I think the answer is that both options can apply. In really good growing conditions some biennial foxgloves can grow big enough in one season instead of two to flower.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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I noticed in my garden this weekend a lot of young foxglove seedlings (which will clearly not be ready to flower until next year) which must be from last year's flowering plants (since this year's flowering foxgloves are in flower and haven't set seed yet). It's made me wonder if this year's flower seeds will only germinate next year, after overwintering as seeds in the ground. If so, this would explain why you were advised to sow 2 years in a row.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on this forum who can confirm if this is the case...
https://www.thebotanicnursery.co.uk/shop/foxgloves
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.