Why must you plant white foxgloves? Well the obvious answer is that they are show-stoppingly beautiful. They work so well in any garden because being white they are understated and chic, plus they add height and structure to borders (which always need height and structure). We plant as many as we can in among our roses. Pink foxgloves, which you see all over the place, are lovely of course. But they take over. Literally. If you have white and pink foxgloves in your garden one year, it won’t be long before you only have the dominant pinks (the solution is to keep pulling out the pinks). So white foxgloves are a most deliberate choice without ever being a noisy statement. They are happy in sun and shade, dry or wet soil, and they’ll self seed. They are just heaven on every level. They are also biannuals, which mean they need to be planted one year to flower the next. If you sow seeds in the spring you’ll see green leaves in July and August but no flowers for a year. The short cut? Sow the small, green plants now and you’ll have flowers by late spring and through the summer. Right now Woottens Nursery—who have an excellent online, telephone and delivery service—is offering 16 Digitalis purpurea Alba (white foxgloves to you and me) for £19.90, which is almost half their normal price.
Gardening: plant white foxgloves now for spring glory
