Talkback: Saving foxglove seeds

Posts

• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  Hello InsaniD I think that seed pod you can see is the caterpillar.
  I have lots of foxgloves,so much so that i have to thin them out often.the white and purple have made a lovely delicate pink one.I am going to collect these seeds and sow them myself insted of letting them self seed as I have the others.This pink one is so pretty.I dont think I have seen Apricot ones,the purple ones are common in my part of Yorkshire.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  InsaniD I must be more tired than I thought,I have just noticed the top photo of seed pods when I scroled sorry.I think I had better go to bed,it's been a long day.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  I am told skimea japonica require both male and female plants to produce berries. Yet I have one olympic flame which has always produced berries and this year has been by far the most prolific.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  Sorry I've just posted a comment in the wrong place - must be the heat!

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  hiya,i have just brought 5 foxgloves or digitails[if thats right],they are white and purple,do i just leave in ground and they will sow seed themselves,they are in flower now and look really lovely,im a bit confused as the lady at garden centre said they die off each year,and i have to replace them every year!!! so im unsure.also i was wondering about holyhocks is it to late to buy them and also do all of them get rust??

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  PS - Richard Jones suggests the caterpillar is that of the angel shades moth.
  
  Reply to InsaniD - sorry I just don't feel the same about apricot foxgloves as I do white and purple. The pink ones sound lovely though dreamer.
  
  Reply to Sarahs pondlife - foxgloves are biennial so once they've flowered they will die. You shouldn't need to replace them with new ones next year, just collect the seeds from the dry seed pods and sow immediately, or leave a pot with compost beneath the spent flowers to catch the seeds. The new foxgloves should germinate within a couple of weeks but won't flower next year - they'll flower the following year. Kate

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  Sarahs pondlife
  It is not too late to plant Hollyhocks.they do suffer from rust unfortunately,I have used a systemic fungicide successfully.I spray before it appears if possible and after that added to the warter for the roots to take up.They are lovely plants and I think worth a try.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  Last year I was impressed by the show the foxgloves made at Hanham Court Garden in among the ferns and as I am busy making a new fernery I will be scattering foxglove seeds among my new ferns to try and get the same effect. Luckily I already have established foxgloves, including the perennial yellow one, so I will be able to find one year-old plants in my butterfly garden - I must look for big caterpillars,Kate.

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  thanks dreamer,i have a bit of problem as such...can find holyhocks anywhere in garden centres....also do theses plants come back every year????

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• Gardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147

  July 2010

  Sarahs pondlife
  Hollyhocks are biennial like the foxglove I started my hollyhocks from a packet and now they self sow or I collect the seed. some have suvived and had a second year of flowers but that is not the norm with biennials.The first season is leaves that are winter hardy and they flower the season after.

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