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Digitalis laevigata 'Gracea' |
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| | After deadheading |
| Common name |
foxglove |
| Family |
plantaginaceae |
| Life cycle |
biennial |
| Flowers |
orange-yellow/purple-brown (early summer) |
| Size |
3-4' |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
| Cultural notes |
ordinary garden soil |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature with exposure to light
detailed seed-starting info below
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Another species foxglove with flowers in the cream-to-orange-to-brown spectrum. It is often listed as a perennial, but behaved like a biennial in our garden. The photos above show the first flower spike, typical enough. After it was done with its first flush, I deadheaded the plants. In response they sent out lots of flowering side shoots, which made for a cool and quite different look.
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. Follow along as I stroll past all the Digitalis species that have called our garden home About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Digitalis laevigata 'Gracea'
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Alan | Sep 05, 2009 | I'm interested in the biennial/perennial issue with regard to foxgloves. Have grown a number, iether as plants or from seed which were claimed to be perennial but have always turned out to be biennial (though, as you say, seeding generously). One source I read claimed that if you deadhead the plants immediately after flowering - i.e. don't let them go to seed - they tend to be perennial. Any evidence for this?
Yes, that's fairly common advice. I haven't put it to the test too much, because I don't find time for conscientious deadheading. I do hope to put up a comparative page on the various supposedly perennial Digitalis species at some point, because I agree that there is a lot of confusion. |
| Rupert Rankin | Jun 20, 2010 | I had no idea there was a cultivar of Digitalis laevigata that goes by the name cv. 'Gracea'. I doubt the permissibility of this name due to similarity with D. laevigata subspecies graeca.
Your pictures beautifully depict Digitalis lanata, also native to the Balkans, which is considered a serious weed of grazing land in several midwest states (i assume you are a u.s. gardener?)
Thanks for setting this straight. I hope to get around to figuring out the true identity of various digitalis species in our garden sometime this summer - your comments will be very helpful. |
- Seed from '01 trade. Sowed to outside pot in late March, lots of seedlings by mid-April
- Seed for 'Gracea" from '06 trade. Baggy 70F with light (95%G, 3-6d)
In the earlier attempt, problem was not germination but keeping the small seedlings alive through summer. Perhaps better to get a head start by germinating indoors.
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