I don't tend to grow many flowers from seed, partly because I haven't had the space or facilities up until now, and partly because as regular readers will know, I am a bit of a vegetable growing enthusiast - give me a choice of edible or ornamental and I'll opt for the plants that can end up in my gob!
But I did sow these white foxgloves from a packet of seeds that came free on the front of Gardens Illustrated back in autumn 2008. And now they've finally flowered: it seems like they've taken forever to get to this point, possibly through my completely rubbish "nurturing", but they do look rather lovely now. These definitely won't be ending up in my gob, given that foxgloves are poisonous, or as Amy Stewart notes in her book Wicked Plants, ingesting digitalis is like putting your heart on steroids.
I'd like some other suggestions for flower seeds to sow this autumn for a low-cost boost to my (newly expanded) borders: now I have my potting shed (did I mention my new potting shed?!), a whole new world of possibilities has opened up to me. Just add your thoughts in the comments below. And if you too sowed these GI seeds, when did yours flower - were mine as sluggish as they felt, or was I just being impatient as usual?
Your foxgloves didnt take ages due to your poor nurturing but because they are biennials and take that long to get to flower. You need to sow more this autumn as once your foxgloves have flowered the plant will die. You could also sow Sweet Williams which are fairly easy and will flower next summer, Virginia Stock. The problem with sowing alot of plants in autumn is that you have to get them through the winter. You might like to sow some annuals in the spring for more instant gratification!!
Posted by: Helen | June 05, 2010 at 08:35 PM
Campanula lactiflora is a winner - get nice variations of colour from seed, or you can have white.
Nasturtiums,(can eat those too) of course and sweet peas! Try looking at Chiltern Seeds site for loads of amazing possibilities.
It seems as if I grew most of Veddw from seed - could never have done it/afforded it any other way.
Hope a happy baby arrives soon.
XXXX Anne
Posted by: Anne Wareham | June 05, 2010 at 08:36 PM
Had brilliant success with these seeds - thanks to GI!. Loads of big, healthy plants that flowered last summer - but I did bring them on through the winter in individual containers in a polytunnel, so they were a bit more pampered than most!
Posted by: NewShoot | June 06, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Growing flowers from seed is much harder than vegetables, I think. I didn't sow the GI foxgloves, but have sown the black hollyhocks and am trying the sweet rocket - so far, am only at seedling stage. I've only really had success with sunflowers and cosmos. And both of those are so easy I'm not sure they count!
Posted by: Camillap | June 06, 2010 at 04:23 PM
I guess that's the last post you'll be writing for a while then - congratulations!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: louise | June 07, 2010 at 05:32 AM
Those look lovely and worth the wait. Foxgloves don't last long in my garden... too dry for them. But have had good luck with x mertonensis.
Good advice from Hellen:)
Posted by: Ilona | October 06, 2010 at 05:04 PM