Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Summer flowers, 2 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
David--The S. African Foxglove WILL keep growing and setting blooms till you get tired of it.

The one I grew out, till the end of the season, made me think I will never grow ir again.
Geez! It got to be 6' tall and wide--and sprawling all over the place.

Seed collecting is difficult--as the pods dry and become very woody.
The pods are made up of about 4 narrow, tubular growths and the seeds are inside these.
You can remove the pods when they are totally dry looking.

I actually did a photo primer where the seeds are--and how to remove them.
Sally used this picture in her article on S. African Foxgloves.

Let me find some pictures:
#1-The process of removing seeds from the tubular pods. Ger out your pliers!!!
#2--Here is one plant that has grown to about 6' tall--and is no longer flowering a lot.
The branches are all scrawly and bare. There are a few blooms stil forming at the tips of the plant.
Nothing pretty to look at. The blooms did host a slew of bees---and, if one had a good amount of
space--I would imagine this flower could be quite attractive.
Mine grew in a mini-bed (2'x3') next to my home's foundation--so I cannot say how well it would
have performed in free, rich soil in a bed with no boundaries....

It IS lovely--- Here is a link to Sally's Article....Gita

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2928/