Higgledy Garden
  • About Higgledy Garden
  • The Higgledy Garden Shop
  • Ben’s Blog
  • Growing Guides
  • Seed Sowing Guide
  •  
0
Your cart is empty. Go to Shop.

Harvesting Foxgloves For The Vase.

First Foxglove Harvest This Year.
First Foxglove Harvest This Year. Yes…I know the jug is too small!

It was Great Auntie Foxy Higgledy, the Edwardian explorer, who first discovered Foxgloves. Auntie Foxy had blazed a trail across the hitherto uncharted Arctic tundra that lay to the south west of Cambridgeshire. She then entered into the lost and ancient city of Milton Keynes, the ruins of which were overrun with the strange flowers that she named ‘Foxgloves’. Three months later after giving a very well received talk at the National Geographic Society, Foxgloves became the must have flower of the moment and can now be found in gardens all over our Sceptred Isle.

Foxglove 'Excelsior'
Foxglove ‘Excelsior’

My humble Biennial patch is only eight metres by one metre this year. I shall be extending it later in the season. But even from a relatively small bed I can harvest heaps of flowers. Foxgloves are not the most productive of the biennials…after harvesting the main stem you will however usually get four or more smaller spikes from the base. Sweet Williams grow alongside my Foxgloves….these plants are flower making factories…they just keep on pumping out blooms for months…..they more than make up for the more scanty efforts of the Foxys.

I harvest my Foxgloves when the first flowers are opening…the others will open steadily as the days go on….don’t harvest them too early or they will struggle to open.

Foxglove Sowing Tips.

Digitalis_purpurea_Koehler_drawing

*I sow my Foxgloves on mid summer’s day…the summer solstice…usually around the 22nd June…not because I’m a hippy but because it’s easy to remember. Seeds can happily be sown from June through July…and I know growers who are sow through August with seemingly few problems.

*My own view is that Foxgloves are best sown into 3 inch square pots…don’t cover the seed…just press them into your compost…they need light to germinate.

*Foxglove seeds do not need excessive heat to germinate…they’re native plants…I leave my seed trays outside…out of the way….and let them get one with it.

*Plant your seedlings to a spacing of about a foot apart in early September…preferably in a bed into which you have dug some good old, home made compost.

The Best Foxgloves For The Cutting Garden.

*Foxglove ‘Alba’

*Foxglove ‘Excelsior’

*Foxglove ‘Apricot Beauty’

All these critters can be found in my ‘Biennials Collection’ which has 11 packets of seeds with 20% discount and free shipping.

Have a great bank holiday weekend.

Kind regards

Benjamin Higgledy.

Biennial related posts that you may enjoy:

‘Sweet William Growing Guide’.

‘Hesperis From Seed’

‘Wallflowers from seed‘

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Hesperis Matronalis From Seed. The Sunday Night Picture Show. (End of May)

Fresh posts!

  • Why Higgledy is limiting available stock to 75k packets per year.
  • Eight Months At Bluebell Cottage Nursery.
  • Sowing Sweet Peas In Autumn And Winter.
  • Why you should be sowing Hardy Annuals in late August/early September.
  • Autumn Sowing Of Hardy Annual Flowers.

Sign up for the newsletter!

Once every two months, I send subscribers a discount code or an offer for a heavily discounted bundle of seeds. You won't get inundated with emails... I'm far too lazy for that sort of caper.

Possibly old and musty

  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
© Higgledy Garden 2020
site by santa ana limited
Privacy Policy

Join Us

Once every two months, I send subscribers a discount code or an offer for a heavily discounted bundle of seeds. You won't get inundated with emails... I'm far too lazy for that sort of caper.

Join the chat on social media

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter