Gradually acclimatise to outdoor conditions for 10 to 15 days before planting out after all risk of frost. If you are collecting your own seed, sow it immediately when fresh — and thinly, as overcrowded seedlings are prone to fungal diseases.
Foxgloves can be planted at just about any time of year, but avoid planting when the soil is frozen solid, waterlogged or extremely dry. Dig over the planting area, incorporating lots of organic matter — such as compost, leafmould or well-rotted manure. Dig a good sized hole big enough to easily accommodate the rootball. Place the rootball in the planting hole and adjust the planting depth so that it is planted at the same depth as it was originally growing and the top of the rootball is level with the soil surface.
Mix in more organic matter with the excavated soil and fill in the planting hole. Water in well, apply a granular general feed over the soil around the plant and add a Flower borders and beds, patios, containers, city and courtyard gardens, cottage and informal gardens, woodland gardens, wildflower gardens. Feed every spring with a balanced granular plant food. Mulch around plants in spring with a After the first flowers have finished — especially with early flowering perennials — cut back the faded flower stems to ground level and give them a good feed with a liquid plant food — this may encourage a second flush of flowers.
After flowering, cut back the faded flower stems to ground level, unless you want to collect seed for future sowing or want the plants to self seed. In which case, cut down the stems after the seed has been collected or shed.
British wildflowers are currently enjoying something of a revival as both gardeners and local councils appreciate the A colourful garden can lift our spirits and make us feel so much happier. A little regular care and attention throughout Aphids are the most common of all pests and almost every plant from the smallest shrub to the tallest oak tree can be Flowers are one of the most symbolic objects in modern and ancient times. Throughout the course of history, trees The flowers are very nectar-rich and are like magnets to bees and butterflies.
The ovate to lanceolate leaves with barely noticeable rounded teeth on the margins grow on a winged petiole formed by the lower veins. The alternate leaves, up to a foot long, are covered with gray-white hairs that impart a downy texture on the upper surface and are wooly or hairy below. The clump remains low and close to the ground. The plant forms a rosette of leaves L and C which have prominent veins R.
In the second year an upright flower stem with smaller leaves is produced from the center of the basal clump. The spikes normally grow 3 to 4 feet tall with the individual flowers opening progressively up the elongated, terminal cluster a simple or sparsely branched raceme.
The species usually has a one-sided raceme with flowers but improved cultivars often have flowers completely surrounding the stem. The downward-facing, tapered, tubular bell-shaped flowers have four lobes.
The flowers are visited by bees — primarily bumblebees — which climb deep into the flower tube to get the nectar which lies in a ring at the base of the tube, and in the process rub against the anthers which lie flat on the upper inside surface of the corolla. When visiting another flower, the pollen rubs off on the cleft stigma. Hummingbirds may also visit the flowers. The flower spikes can be used for cut flowers. The terminal flower spike L has numerous downward-facing bell-shaped flowers C heavily spotted inside R.
Common foxglove blooms mainly in early summer. The main bloom time is in early summer but occasionally additional flower stems are produced later in the season, especially if the main flower stalks are cut after blooming.
Pollinated flowers are followed by a rounded fruit capsule which splits open at maturity to release the numerous small brown, ridged seeds.
Each plant can produce million seeds which will readily self-seeding under favorable growing conditions. Deadhead after flowering to avoid excess numbers of seedlings but some flowers must go to seed to maintain a permanent planting as if they were perennials. Use common foxglove to add a bold, vertical dimension to perennial flower beds, shade gardens, and cottage gardens, particularly in front of a solid background, such as a building, hedge or shrubs where they will really stand out.
They also naturalize readily in woodland gardens. Avoid planting foxgloves in very wet or very dry soil. As our native foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, is biennial, you might not get flowers the same year you plant the plants. Foxgloves self-seed readily in the garden. All you need to do to ensure foxgloves disperse their seed is to avoid deadheading the flowers until seeds have developed and ripened.
You can then either collect fresh seed and scatter it directly where you want foxgloves to grow. Seedlings grown in trays should be overwintered in a cold frame , before planting out in spring. Foxgloves require very little care, and will flower and seed without any intervention from the gardener.
Foxgloves are trouble-free plants. You may need to protect young plants from slugs and snails. By midsummer, foxgloves have finished flowering and can look unsightly. Here, Monty Don explains how to clear your borders of foxgloves to make room for other plants:. This charming hardy climber creates a canopy of glossy green foliage, which in summer is strewn with flat white panicles of flowers on long stems.
Add colour to your garden this winter, select from pansy 'Colourburst', 'Grande Fragrance', wallflower 'Wizard' and viola 'Valentino'. A superb evergreen bearing delicate, waxy, bell-shaped flowers in the depths of winter, with lush green foliage for year-round interest.
0コメント