At The Quiet Botanist our love for foxgloves runs deep, though to be fair we fall hard for many flowers with a certain unruly charm, lily of the valley, rambling garden roses collapsing softly over themselves, double-bearer Irises, tall towering hollyhocks, and those endless fields of Queen Anne’s lace that drift through farms and along roads all across upstate New York. They make the most incredible arrangements if you’re willing to risk the ticks, but that’s a story for another day.
Foxgloves, like lily of the valley, carry a reputation. They are poisonous.
Quietly, beautifully so.
We acknowledge that darker piece of their personality with respect, but it does nothing to temper our affection. If anything, it deepens it. There is something compelling about a flower that holds both beauty and danger so effortlessly.
From deep magentas and soft chalky whites to buttery yellows and pale lilacs, I have planted and loved them all. I grow them from seed when I’m patient, though more often I bring home potted plants whenever I discover a shade I haven’t grown before, which, admittedly, happens more often than it should. I have included one of my favorite sources below, be careful though for cruising through plant catalogues is addictive but I guess that says everything you need to know about me :)
Botanically speaking, Foxgloves belong to the genus Digitalis, a group of about twenty species native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. Their tall spires carry rows of tubular flowers that resemble tiny bells or maybe thimbles, which is fitting since the name Digitalis comes from the Latin word for “finger.”
The best known is Digitalis purpurea, the common foxglove, a biennial that has long been beloved in cottage gardens for its dramatic towers of purple, pink, and white.
The name foxglove itself dates back to Old English, foxes glofe, or fox’s glove. My favorite tale suggests foxes wore the flowers on their paws to silence their footsteps while hunting. Other names, witch’s glove among them, lean more directly into the plant’s toxic reputation.
In Wales and Ireland the plant is sometimes called Goblin Gloves, though I’ve always preferred to think of them as little resting caves for bees, which they very often are.
Foxgloves occupy a curious place between folklore and medicine. In 1785 the English botanist William Withering discovered that extracts from the plant could treat certain heart conditions. That discovery eventually led to the development of cardiac medicines derived from the plant, medicines that are still used today.
The plant even brushes up against art history. Vincent van Gogh may have been treated with digitalis late in his life for the seizures he experienced. Some historians have wondered whether side effects of the drug influenced the luminous yellows that appear so vividly in his later paintings.
In the garden foxgloves prefer partial shade, thriving in the kind of dappled woodland light. But here in upstate New York they are surprisingly adaptable. You’ll often see them standing proud in the flower boxes outside our Hudson shop on the bright side of the street, happily leaning into the sun.
They’ve been part of American gardens for centuries, Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello and later the great garden designer Gertrude Jekyll used white foxgloves to illuminate shaded woodland borders.
It feels fitting that foxglove carries so much symbolism. It represents healing and danger, magic and mystery, medicine and myth. A flower that belongs equally to apothecaries and fairy stories.
Beautiful, complicated things often do.
And of course, one final note worth repeating: foxglove is highly poisonous if consumed and should always be admired with care.
x Rebecca
Foxgloves out in the garden - the classic darker shades of pink.
Portrait of Dr Gachet, by Vincent van Gogh. Gachet holds a foxglove, seen by some to suggest that he treated Van Gogh with digitalis. Photograph: DEA / G. DAGLI /Getty Images
The beauty of a border with peaks of foxgloves and peonies in the background.
This seasons obsession - Digitalis Apricot Beauty - Tall Spikes of Pastel Flowers, Available at Bluestone Perennials.
https://www.bluestoneperennials.com/DIAB
Selfie amongst shades of pink at home.
Apricot foxgloves contrasting with smokebush for this shot with our candle.
Shades of pink and apricot - towering caves for bees.
Foxgloves, salvia and peonies in the garden box outside the Hudson store.
Bouquets from the garden with weeping foxgloves.
This moody beauty.
