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Foxglove Digitalis Purpurea Seeds
Packet of 150+ home grown seeds!
Plenty to get you started and really easy to grow!
Only thing to remember is number one, it is very very poisonous.
Seriously deadly if not handled sensibly.
Number two, it needs a very fine moist soil, and surface sowing.
They NEED light to germinate so must remain on top of the soil or nothing will ever happen.
If there is a little grain of sand or soil on top, blocking the sunlight, then they will just sit there dormant forever until they eventually rot.
Same goes if you plant them in pots, then put the pots on a shady windowsill or dark greenhouse(which well meaning folks often do).
At the same time they come from a moist cool environment, which is quite different than here in Queensland Australia, so you need to replicate that if you want success.
Another thing that is important is that in this full sun, high light position, the soil will dry out quicker than normal and if the teeny tiny little seeds are cracked or half open when this happens, then they will just cook before you ever see a sprout.
Sounds tricky hey?
What I do to prevent all of these potential dramas is just sit the pots in a tray of water a couple cm deep until germination. Pour the water from the tray back into the pots every couple days so it doesn’t stagnate and cause damping off or fungal issues.
Problems all solved, super easy that way.
Beautiful plant with large furry likes that look a little like comfrey or borage except more in a neat lettuce sort of arrangement.
Amazing tall, splotchy mottled purple and pink flower spikes that the bees come from miles for.
It does not hurt the bees or make the honey poisonous and at some times of the year in UK, Ireland and Europe it is one of the main pollen sources and vital to the local honey industry.
Has a huge history of use as a potent medicine, and it is the main source of the chemical Digitalin, which is still used to make heart medicines today. Massive industry revolves around this plant in the UK particularly.
Once processed it can reduce edema and raise blood pressure for folks with weak or damaged hearts apparently. When I did a little research I can see that even the commercial prepared medications still cause hospitalization due to poisoning and overdose every year, in just about every country…
This is not a “safe” plant to use as a medicine, this is an ornamental bee friendly flower, with an interesting history of use that I in no way encourage.
Ornamental only folks.
There are reports that there is a near fatal dose from ingestion of only 0.5ml of sap or 2grams of fresh leaf!
This is the reason for its other common names like Bloody fingers, Witches Glove and Dead Man’s Bells.
If you were to accidentally ingest the plant effects include hallucinations, convulsions, vomiting, an irregular heartbeat and very often death.
Keep out of reach of pets, children and be responsible about how you grow it.
Despite being a very common wildflower in a lot of places, without any mass poisonings or dramas, I am still very careful about where I plant them and I suggest you do the same.
The bees and insects love the pollen and are often hiding inside the flowers in the early mornings, waiting for the sun.
No animals eat them here, quite wisely, and the internet tells me this is a worldwide phenomenon across all wild species. They are instinctively repelled by them.
The roos, bettongs and parrots all give them a wide berth and for this reason I plant them in buckets and move the buckets around other plants that I am trying to protect.
Works great, I do the same thing with Datura too.
I highly recommend it!
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems no nasties, no problems!!!
