Digitalis

Foxgloves, particularly our native biennial, can germinate by the thousand in a new cleared piece of woodland, or border, standing like soldiers in ranks, even in full sun. Some of the perennial forms we grow, Beth has seen on north facing dampish slopes in the Alps. We grow in semi-shade, ideally in a leafy soil. Usually good flowering during summer.

In Britain the flowers of all foxgloves are frequenty visited and pollinated by bumblebees; in the Americas these are joined by hummingbirds. Notwithstanding the well-known toxic/medicinal chemicals in the leaves, they are eaten by a range of generalist moth larvae and the caterpillars of the very rare heath fritillary butterfly. The flowers are eaten by the foxglove pug moth larvae.