I find that some of the foxgloves get tired and ratty looking after blooming all season. I slice off the mother plants and usually the plant is sprouting side shoots by that time. I'm in CA so I can only speak for what happens here.

I usually harvest the seed and cut off the seed heads. I haven't had them in the rose bed long enough to see how a full bed can disguise them. The leaves usually look ok until the first frost.

I don't believe they're supposed to be very long-lived, are they? Don't people usually let at least a few of them go to seed so the stand keeps going? (If so at least those few are going to look kind of ratty because they'll stop blooming and concentrate on making seeds, right?)

Redsox, I started some foxglove last year, they are a traditional rose companion and I think they'll look great. But they do look ratty after bloom.

I was reading about Gertrude Jeckyl one day, and the book stated that after the foxgloves bloomed in her garden, she would rip them out. That is what I plan on doing. Or at least cutting them down the base. Maybe or maybe not they will come back after that. My foxglove usually don't return the following year after they've bloomed. So why bother living with ratty brow foliage all summer if the plant isn't even going to return?

They seed prolifically, you can let one go and let it produce seeds, sprinkle them around where you want foxglove.

Mine seem to be returning. Maybe they are new ones, it's hard to tell because I've been assisting them to self sow. I usually get a 2nd and 3rd flowering spike, so I leave them in the ground.

I think if you have a full enough bed (what I'm aspiring to) the ratty foliage will be hidden and you can leave it right there.

Can anyone provide information about how to harvest the seeds and when to plants them. I've never done this but have quite a few foxgloves growing in my gardens. Please tell me what i should do because I'd love to have more of these beautiful plants. Thanks, Shelley

I am also embarrassed to say that I have never allowed anything to go to seed. I always cut the seed pods off to save energy for the plant. Of course, most of my plants are still new. I don't quite get how it works!

Foxglove is a special case. It's a biennial (normally) which means it grows the first year, then flowers, sets seed and dies the second year. So to put on a show, you need a continuous supply of second year plants.

My garden is too heavily mulched for biennials.

Shelley if you want to harvest seeds you will need to wait till the flower pods have turned to a straw color. The seeds are at the base of where the flower was. When they are dried out they will start to crack open and you want to harvest before they open and drop the seeds. The seeds are very small so when you start them remember that you just need a small amount.
Diana

Diana, thanks for the information. Do you wait until spring to plant the seeds?

No, don't wait. I do two things, I take some of the seeds and free sow them into the bed. I move the mulch (I used pine bark) and just scratch them in here and there. I then take some others and put them in one of those window box type planters with jiffy seed starter. Keep in a shaded spot and keep moist, but don't soak.

They will sprout right away. You can plant them whenever you like when they get large enough. I even transplant ones that I direct sowed in the bed if they are in a bad spot.

By planting them in the summer, they probably will bloom the following spring. Then you can repeat the process. I bought one foxglove 3 years ago and now have about 100 from that one plant. They put out a tremendous amout of seed. Don't be afraid to over seed because some will not make it.

They also transplant very easily. If you let them go to seed let you can then move them to wherever you want. (Don't forget they are very poisonous so wash your hands well after handling!)They don't mind a bit and it's a good way to fill in areas. I, like buford have hundreds of foxgloves from two plants that I originally started out with. For the last few years I sprinkled lots of different types of foxglove seeds around my property. It will be fun this year to see the different ones that I have.

But in order to let them set seed, they are going to go through the ratty looking stage.

One thing to do is to cut the spikes down gradually as the stalks gradually finish blooming and just leave a little of the blossoms at the bottom to set seed.

Or cut them off completely and buy new plants every year and treat them like an annual. Or grow your own from seed.

If you cut them off completely and don't let them set seed, you remind them they are a type of perennial (biennial) and they are more likely to come back and rebloom a second year. At least that's what I read and it seems to be true.

I cut the stalks back gradually last year and didn't let it set seed and then just bought a packet of seeds to sow in another bed I keep for lettuce. They sprout like crazy. I think my garden is too heavily mulched too in order for them to sprout, but they seem to be easy to grow. I'm going to do what buford does and transplant them where I want them from the seed I sowed.

I just buy my seed rather than letting them seed because I don't like the ratty looking stalks. Maybe next year I'll have more plants and can let some of them look ratty to set seed.

Hope that helps a little too.