GUILT FREE FOXGLOVES
I really should write a column about growing tomatoes. The catalogs are coming in fast and furious now, and they are full of tomatoes and other edibles. Even nurseries like White Flower Farm, longtime bastion of ornamental plants, are selling at least a few tomatoes, strawberry plants and berry bushes. It is heartening that people are growing their own food and I will undoubtedly do a bit of that myself once again this year. I will also undoubtedly write about the experience. But today it is gray and soggy outside and writing about tomato plants just doesn’t offer enough inspiration. Besides, yesterday, a new foxglove stole my fickle gardener’s heart and I find myself dreaming about flowers. As for tomatoes, I believe I’ll emulate Scarlett O’Hara, of Gone With the Wind, who said, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
Today, I will concentrate on the new foxglove, which was originally given the varietal name ‘Waldigone’, but will be sold in this country under the invalid but more evocative name,’Gold Crest’. In the fetching catalog photographs, ‘Gold Crest’ has sunset colored blossoms–gold with overtones of peachy pink. I suspect that the proportion of gold to peach and the intensity of both colors depends on soil chemistry and sunlight, but even if the tones are less intense than the catalog pictures, they will be lovely. Like many new introductions, ‘Gold Crest’ is a compact form, reaching only two feet in height. That means it won’t have to be staked in most garden situations, saving the gardener time and effort. It also makes it a good container subject and since container gardening continues to be extremely popular, ‘Gold Crest’ will be a winner among those with empty pots and semi-shady situations.
Everyone who gardens knows foxglove, a time-honored cottage garden favorite. The foxgloves that most of us know best are colorful varieties of the common foxglove, Digitalis purpurea. These grow tall–up to four feet in good situations–and like partial shade and regular moisture. They are billed as biennials; plants that form a basal rosette of leaves in the first year of growth, then flower, set seed and die the second year. Fortunately, foxgloves, like hollyhocks and many other biennial plants, self seed readily and sometimes act more like short lived perennials. After a few years after planting even a single specimen, most gardeners have a steady supply of self-sown plants in a variety of colors.
Digitalis purpurea has one big drawback–its leaves are big, coarse and generally lacking in refinement. This can be remedied, as it is easy to use other, lower-growing plants as partial camouflage. The tall flower spikes are the star of the show, anyway. Still, modern gardeners want multi-tasking cultivars, so breeders have set out to provide them. This is probably the route taken by English breeder David Tristram, who gave the world ‘Gold Crest.’
Tristram took two digitalis species, the perennial, yellow-flowered Digitalis grandiflora, which hails originally from Europe and western Asia; and Digitalis obscura, native to Spain, which also features yellow flowers veined in red. Grandiflora grows up to three feet tall, while obscura reaches only two feet, so the ‘Gold Crest’ offspring, resembles the latter in stature. Both species have relatively narrow leaves, giving the plants a more graceful appearance than common foxgloves. The sunset color may come from the obscura parent as well, as there are obscura varieties on the market with yellow/orange flowers. Tristram’s hybrid blooms more than once per season and is most likely a short-lived perennial. ‘Gold Crest’ may self seed or not, but if it does, the seedlings will not look like the parent plant. Still, if self-seeding happens, the results might be interesting. I am inclined to let nature take its course, especially in the first year.
I am not sure you can have too much foxglove in the garden. In addition to the colorful purpurea varieties and hybrids, which flower in shades ranging from white, through yellows, pale pink and purple; I have the lovely Digitalis x mertonensis, a grandiflora/purpurea hybrid with deep pink flowers. ‘Pam’s Choice’, a purpurea hybrid livens things up with individual flowers that are white on the outside and maroon purple on the inside. The lips are accented with freckles of the same shade.
Old fashioned species foxgloves tend to have flowers that droop, either a little or a lot, depending on how tightly clustered they are on the stalk. Modern hybrids have been bred to produce big, brassy, outward-facing blossoms. I think both have their place, though the outward-facing flowers catch the eye more readily in arrangements.
You can probably grow foxgloves perfectly well in a disciplined, formal garden, but I rarely see them used that way. Perhaps this is because of the uncouth leaves. In my undisciplined beds and borders, they pop up everywhere and I am glad of it. You can obtain ‘Gold Crest’ from Heronswood Nursery, 300 Park Avenue, Warminster, PA 18974-4818; (866) 578-7948; www.heronswood.com. No paper catalog. Most retail nurseries and garden centers stock purpurea varieties and hybrids in the spring. For an interesting, more extended selection, try Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd, Madison, OH 44057; (800).852.5243; www.bluestoneperennials.com. Free catalog.