Digitale purpurea (Digitalis purpurea)

decorative. It is considered a pioneer plant and likes to spread on cleared forest grounds.

The plant got its name foxglove from a tale in which some wicked elves gave its flowers to foxes as gloves, so they could enter sheds and pens silently and steal hens, geese and chicken. It is common to all narratives about the plant that it attributed magic effects and a connection to the netherworld of some sort.

Historically, it has been used in popular medicine, but it is extremely difficult to dose, so that acute poisonings during therapy attempts were not uncommon. Its most well-known application is in the form of various digitalis preparations, which are enormously effective in combatting heart failure and age-related cardiac insufficiency. The contained cardiac glycosides strengthen the heart muscle and regulate it the heart rate.

The plant is very poisonous and should not be planted in gardens where toddlers or animals play!

Content approx. 10000 purple foxglove seeds

Growing instructions

Biennial herbaceous plant which can reach up to 2 meters in height in the second year. Direct sowing in the spring or summer, broadcast directly into the flowerbed. It may be necessary to mix the small seeds with some sand to facilitate the sowing. They also require light for germination, so do not cover them completely with soil. The red foxglove grows well in half shade, but it can also thrive in the shade under good conditions. For this purpose it requires loose, permeable, acidic and uniformly moist soil and high humidity.