Glove affair
Shooting stars are brightening up gardens and verges in the shape of foxgloves, writes David Overend.
Social distancing doesn’t come easily to many people. Give them a sunny day and they lose all sense of space, heading off to the beach to get as close as possible to others. Thank goodness most plants know how to behave responsibly. Even though many seed freely and can become pests, others (in particular, I am referring to the humble foxglove) flock together to form startlingly eye-catching groups. They don’t have to social distance.
We should look upon them as a free gift, and if they are in the wrong place, move them; they don’t mind being transferred to a more suitable site, just as long as they get the right growing conditions and are watered well to help them re-establish.
Just about everyone loves (or at least recognises) foxgloves which, last year, grew in abundance and which, this year, appear to be growing in even greater numbers.
A decrease in the use of herbicides in recent years has encouraged the return of many wildflowers, and Digitalis purpurea has taken its chance.
The foxglove is a wild and wonderful bloomer with an ability to find a home in the smallest space, and then to shoot upwards several feet to display its magnificent flower spike.
It loves shady spots, deciduous woodland areas and clearings in conifer forests, but it can grow in a crack in a wall, and its flowers – not always purple, despite the name – are now a common sight on many roadsides.
And the foxglove has another claim to fame – as a source of digitalis, a drug used to treat certain heart problems and as a sedative.
Bees love the foxglove’s pollen; in fact, bees are far and away the major pollinators of the plant whose shape provides the ideal landing-platform for the insect.
It has been calculated that just a single foxglove can produce more than one million seeds – which is another reason why the plant is so successful.
In spring, if a seedling or two appear in your garden but are, unfortunately, in the wrong spot, just lift them – with as much soil as possible around the root – and replant them in a semi-shady spot where the soil is rich in leafmould; heel them in, water well and wait for them to bloom in the summer.
A year later and they should be growing in greater numbers – close together, of course.