Amateur Gardening – 10 July 2019

22 AMATEUR GARDENING 6 JULY 2019

Pick of the very best

̈

Graham Rice chooses his six top RHS Award of Garden Merit winners

This week it’s Digitalis

Biennial, perennial, dwarf

or statuesque, the choice

of foxgloves is better than

ever, but Graham’s picks

tower above the rest

With options for sun and

partial shade, borders

and pots, this cottage

garden classic works

well in any style of plot

Botanic Nursery thebotanicnursery.co.uk 07850 328756

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants hardyplants.co.uk 01256 896533

Hillview Hardy Plants hillviewhardyplants.com 01746 716454

Where to buy

T

HESE are exciting times in
the world of foxgloves. Plant
breeders, nurseries and
gardeners have all been
developing new varieties for situations
old and new, and it can be challenging
to work out which foxgloves to grow
where. Luckily, here at AG, we can help.
Increasingly, gardeners are
recognising the value of our native
foxglove, and many new varieties of
this treasured wild flower have been
enhancing our plots. New biennial and
hardy hybrids are also arriving, along
with a number of hardy perennial
foxgloves; plus, there are valuable
new options for patio containers.
So what to plant in your garden? The
elegant, one-sided spikes of the biennial
native Digitalis purpurea are especially
appealing in wild corners – the white-
flowered forms, in particular, bring a
ghostly presence to dappled shade.

New colours and combinations
There are now a range of new colours
and colour combinations in these
biennial foxgloves, many of which have
the ability to produce flowers that are
carried all around the stem, held out
sideways to show themselves off more
directly – look for the Camelot Series
and the densely spotted Dalmatian
Series. There’s also award-winning
one-off ‘Pam’s Choice’. With its bold
crimson markings on pure white flowers,
it always appeals.
Currently, there are no foxgloves that
we can confidently say are long-lived.
The biennials are, well, biennial, while
most of the hardy perennial types will
give you three or four years at most.

But whether it’s the tall, slender, rusty

spires of D. parviflora, the yellowish

D. ferruginea with its red veins, or

the dainty primrose yellow bells of

D. grandiflora with their rusty spots, all

the perennials are elegant sun-lovers.

Recent hybrids involving other

species have brought us some

exceptional garden plants. Take the

Polkadot Series, for example. Plants

are grown from seed, but the flowers are

sterile, which means they’ll keep coming

for many months. Or consider the dwarf

yet neatly elegant Knee Hi Series – just

1ft (30cm) tall and simply delightful.

Hybrids with the rather tender and

exotic-looking Canary Island foxglove

(see Patio foxgloves, overleaf) looked

very exciting when they first appeared,

only to prove somewhat disappointing.

But now we know how best to grow them,

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

Sow biennial Camelot or

Dalmatian foxgloves in

spring for a first-year

display, then deadhead

ruthlessly to encourage

a second year

of flowers.