Yay! Free foxgloves!

Morning Friends,

Aren't these fab? 

Well, no, of COURSE I haven't got foxgloves flowering in my garden yet. It's way too early. I have been busy with foxglove plants though, ensuring we'll get a similar display of wild flower loveliness this June.
And, the best thing is that they are FREE! Once you have a foxglove in your garden, it's likely that you'll be able to have them every year for as long as you want them. I definitely do want them. I love them. They are definitely one of my favourite flowers. I can remember showing a visitor around my garden years ago, & when I commented that I really needed to do some weeding, she said 'Well, you can hoike that one straight out, that's a foxglove'. Needless to say it was not 'hoiked out'. It was nurtured into a beautiful specimen much like the one pictured above & when it finished flowering, I left it for the seed to ripen, then shook the seed head randomly over my flower beds. And so my annual fix of foxgloves began! 

I no longer bother wafting seed heads around. I find that foxgloves are very good at doing this themselves. At this time of year, I simply see where the new plants have come up & move them to better places in the flower borders. I also pot up all the decent-sized plants which have self-seeded into our veggie garden. As the Big Hairy Half of the Relationship has been making noises this week about digging over his potato bed, I have been busy on Mission Foxgloves Rescue.

I potted up 39 free foxglove plants from the veggie garden alone (plus one big stray primrose) and have made a start on re-planting them around my borders. Unlike a lot of plants, they do well under trees, so thought I may as well start there.

The remaining plants will sit quite happily in their pots for a couple of weeks while I gradually get them planted out. They are useful at the back of borders to give a bit of height or anywhere where you want a pop of colour.

Our self-seeded foxgloves usually emerge as the traditional bright/magenta pink, but there are often paler pink ones & I've even had a few cream ones with burgundy-coloured markings. I particularly love the white ones. I can just about tell from the leaves which plants will produce white & which will produce pink flowers, but not with 100% accuracy, meaning that I sometimes think I've planted a white drift, only to find a bright pink one standing proudly in the middle. I quite like that though.

When you look closely at foxgloves, you see that there are never really two that are identical. Even if the colour is similar, the markings will be a different colour or pattern. 

Every now & again, I try to widen the gene pool of my 'Hagstones foxgloves' by sprinkling a packet of seed (usually Foxglove 'alba') randomly around the borders. I don't know if it does any good, but it sounds sort of 'sciency'. I also enjoy experimenting with sowing different varieties. This year I acquired a free packet of 'Primrose Carousel', which I've sown this week.

These are beautiful pale yellow foxgloves with speckly middles, but I'll admit I don't have a lot of success either with full germination or over-wintering this variety, whereas the Hagstones Foxgloves are as tough as old boots. Anyway, clearing foxgloves out of the veggie beds & deciding where I'd like to enjoy seeing those fab flower spikes this summer has been a really positive job this week, & a sign of sunny gardens to come :-)

It's definitely been a little warmer this past week, as Albert Whiskers opted for some al fresco ablutions.

It was also the week that we decided Albert Whiskers is arguably the worst behaved cat we've ever owned. He is very funny though. I often catch the BHO having whole conversations with him. This week, I overheard the following regarding the imminent viewing of some old Dr Who:
     "OK, Albert Whiskers, which Doctor shall we watch? Shall we watch the First Doctor?" 
There was a pause, while he waited to see if there was to be a consenting meow. There was not. He then proceeded to list "The 2nd doctor, the 3rd doctor, etc......right up to the 14th or how ever many of the bloody things there are. There was NO MEOW, which I naturally took to mean that Albert Whiskers did not want to watch ANY Dr Who, but it turned out that I had misinterpreted this. Apparently, what it ACTUALLY meant that he was just unable to decided on a season or episode, meaning that the BHO had to choose for him. Hmm.

The sunshine is streaming through the windows of 'Cathy HQ'. I find something to enjoy in every month, but I'm ready for Spring now. Bring it on!
Hope you are all staying lergy-free.....& remember, if you had a foxglove last year or the year before or if you've seen them in your neighbour's garden, have a look in your own garden to see if you've got any free ones coming up. They're our native wild flowers, the bees love them & they're gorgeous! Go on, get your trowel out!
Till next time,
C x