Foxgloves Blooming in First Year?

ankaragucu

Hi, I planted foxgloves from seed earlier this year and although the seed pack said they would flower in the second year they are already about five foot high and flowers are set and already just about opening. Not a problem per sé, its just that I'm wondering how to treat them over winter? Or once they do bloom will that be it? I have them in a large pot of multi purpose compost.
Thanks for any advice.

macraignil

I only have the wild purple flowered type growing but they are a bit variable rather than all being strictly biennial. I just chopped the flower heads that were finished off a lot of them and it was fairly clear when I was doing this if there was some fresh leaves being produced from the base. These ones with fresh leaves usually stay growing over winter and will produce plants with multiple flower spikes next year so you should be able to tell if they are still alive and potentially going to flower again next year. They survive fine outside in the garden here overwinter. There are from what I have read some varieties that are properly perennial and are supposed to go on for years. Once the flowers are done shake some of the seeds produced over some fresh compost to get another generation growing just in case the ones you have growing now decided they have had enough. They are generally very good at self seeding.

ankaragucu

macraignil wrote: »

I only have the wild purple flowered type growing but they are a bit variable rather than all being strictly biennial. I just chopped the flower heads that were finished off a lot of them and it was fairly clear when I was doing this if there was some fresh leaves being produced from the base. These ones with fresh leaves usually stay growing over winter and will produce plants with multiple flower spikes next year so you should be able to tell if they are still alive and potentially going to flower again next year. They survive fine outside in the garden here overwinter. There are from what I have read some varieties that are properly perennial and are supposed to go on for years. Once the flowers are done shake some of the seeds produced over some fresh compost to get another generation growing just in case the ones you have growing now decided they have had enough. They are generally very good at self seeding.

Thanks for that macraignil, good to know. Its my first time growing them. I put some seedlings in a big pot which are the ones I'm asking about. The few seedlings I planted into the garden soil are barely 6 inches high, they will definitely not be blooming til next year! As you say, they can be variable as plants themselves, never mind before you add in soil type, location, etc. Good to experiment though. Thank again. Happy gardeningðŸ‘

fiacha

Similar experience here in W.Dublin.

Collected seed from garden last summer, planted in trays, potted on and overwintered in greenhouse. Planted 50 of them out in late Spring.
Some flowered (between 2-3 foot tall) but the majority are just producing large healthy leaves. Looking forward to seeing how they do next year.
The self seeded plants from the previous summer flowered at full height and were very strong plants.

This summers seeds are already up and growing in the greenhouse. I have developed a bit of an obsession with them