Tigger's Green Paw
Foxglove

Animal Safety: Dogs: No Cats: No Rabbits: No

Free Grazing: No. Gardens with children or animals are advised to avoid planting them
Lifespan: Around 2 to 5 years

About:
Digitalis is a family of about 20 species of plants, that is commonly called foxgloves. The name comes from the Latin word for finger.
Foxgloves are native to Europe, Western Asia, and north western Africa. The flowers are tubular in shape, produced on a tall spike, and vary in colour from purple, pink, white, and yellow.

The have been known as far back as 1000AD. They have been cultivated since the 1400’s in England, but not grown in American gardens until the 1700’s.

Most foxglove prefer light shade, but some prefer full sunshine. They will grow in most soil types but prefer moist but free draining soil. Avoid planting in very wet or very dry areas.

You would plant your foxglove in the spring of year one for it to flower in the summer of year two. To get the flowers spikes every year, it is best to plant some two years in a row. Foxgloves self seed near to the parent plant, although you can transplant them to other parts of the garden if required.

Foxglove plants can grow up to 90cm (3ft) wide and the spikes can grow up to 2m (8ft) high, depending on the variety.

Foxglove is widely known to be toxic to both humans and animals. So it is advised not to plant any in the garden if there are children or animals likely to play in the garden.

Poisoning from foxgloves can take minutes to hours. Symptoms may include Early signs of Foxglove ingestion may be drowsiness, depression, staggering, fitting, collapse and diarrhoea (often bloody).  It is advice NOT to induce vomiting if foxglove has been ingested. Seek medical help as soon as possible.