What to do with Foxglove during San Francisco Winter?

14 years ago

Hi,

I have several foxgloves that I purchased and planted during summer '09. Now they're all turning brown, and look quite dead. The temps here have been as low as the mid 40's, and typically have been in the mid-upper 40's at night, and 50's during the day.

Is this what happens to Foxglove in the winter, or are they "done" and ready to be discarded?

I understand these are biennials... so does what's happening maybe mean they're already on their second year, and are finished?

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (3)

gardenguru1950
14 years ago
Foxgloves that look quite dead are probably just that -- quite dead.

They are hardy biennials and will take any amount of cold that SF can throw at them. They do not go "winter dormant" as do eastern perennials.

If you were lucky and they bloomed for you and set seed, the seed may have already been dispersed and you will have a new crop come up shortly. Foxgloves naturalize very nicely in most of California.

If they did not bloom for you, it's because they're a little out of season. Foxgloves and most other biennials do best in california when planted in early fall and allowed to grow into winter. They'll start blooming as early as late winter, then into srping and through summer.

Joe
bahia
14 years ago
Unless they just didn't get enough water, I doubt the plants are actually dead. Try cutting off any dead flower stalks, (shade the seed pods over bare areas if you want them to reseed), and remove any dead/dying foliage. Typically foxgloves are good for several years growth in our local conditions, and will form clumps that should bloom again in spring. Kind of ironic, but I just planted some nice one gallon sized foxgloves in full bloom in a client's garden last week, I know they had been greenhouse grown to be in bloom this early, but they were the finishing touch along with ornamental kale and cyclamen for some winter color to join the new sasanqua camellias and Corsican hellebores in full bloom.

If there is any sign of green stems at the base of your foxgloves, just groom off the dead foliage and give them a shot of fertilizer or compost and keep them moist if it doesn't rain.
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bheiser
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks very much for the tips. I went out and gave the Foxgloves a closer inspection yesterday. I started cutting off all the dead stuff... lots of totally brown leaves and stems. But as I looked more closely I noticed something had been eating the leaves ... they looked almost "perforated".

One of the plants was dead all the way to the ground, so i pulled it up and discarded it. But the other three have some (seemingly fresh) green growth near the bottom.

I'm thinking the eaten leaves might be what killed off the other plant, and most of the remaining three. I'm not sure what it was, so after trimming the dead stuff, I sprayed the green leaves with some insecticide soap.

Thanks all, for your feedback!

p.s. I planned them in probably June or so, and they did flower nicely (actually were flowering when i planted them). When those blooms finished, i snipped them off, and they bloomed again later, in the late summer/early Fall. Hopefully they'll come back and do the same again this summer :)

What to do with Foxglove during San Francisco Winter?

Comments (3)

gardenguru1950

bahia

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What to do with Foxglove during San Francisco Winter?

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gardenguru1950

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