This species was first introduced in around 1750, its natural habitat covers a large area of Southern Europe to the Balkans, where it grows in light shady areas. The attractive foliage is slender dark green almost leathery leaves, creating multiple headed crowns. It is a biennial in its native habitat however in the UK it is a perennial the parent plant flowering for 2-5 years before the colony of self seeding plants grows up around it.
Used to harsh conditions going down to as low as -20c hot sunny short summers up to 40c and cold harsh winters going down to -20c
Here with us in the UK it prefers a sunnier site, better still in an open site in the herbaceous border. As the flowering season starts around July and continues into August the flowers turning to attractive seed heads their stately stems can dominate for several months.
Associating well will grasses and plants we have come to call Prairie Plantings like Echinacea, Eryngium and many more. It will also be happy in the sunny border.
Grown from seed the plant can take up to 3 years before it starts to flower, pot grown plants will usually flower a year earlier.
The flowers are usually thumb sized and densley clustered around the tall flowering stem, some sorts like D. ferruginea ‘Gigantea’ often have many side stems of smaller but plentifully produced flowers.
They can vary in colour the sort called D. ferruginea ‘Gelber Herold’ where the colour is more a Dijon Mustard yellow. The flowers are loved by pollinators, and the seed heads can often look like the stem has bees buzzing all up it as the seed heads ripen ready to shed their load. The seed is a good size larger than D. pupurea sorts.
We always suggest saving some seed from all of your favourite Digitalis and this is definetly one to do that too. Wait as long as you can and cut off some of the stem or side stem as the seed heads start to dry usually not before September, unless the summer has been particularly hot n dry. Leave in a dry box or paper envelope to fully ripen and seed will fall into the bag making it easier to harvest and store. Keep the drying seed in a cool dry place out of fluctuating temperatures.
Once dry and sieved to remove as much capsule debris the seed can be packed and kept in a fridge for some time. (Don’t freeze it)
Sowing seed at the time it ripens gives the best results, but take care not to sow it in a greenhouse one afternoon of excessive heat from the sun can dry the surface out and cause erratic germination, if this occurs take the seed tray and place it in a shady place and allow nature to take over the process. Keep and eye on it and water from time to time.
The seed we offer is in packs of 50 seeds (min) and this can be sown anytime from January to September. Sowing between January and April will require slight warmth (15°C to 21°C) to maintain germination. Later sowings from April to September will not require artificial heat or a greenhouse, they will require protection from sudden downpours or extremes of temperature. Putting a sheet of glass over the seed tray / pot is the best way to create the humidity.
Further detailed sowing information is sent with the seeds or look in the cultural information section of the web site.
This species was first introduced in around 1750, its natural habitat covers a large area of Southern Europe to the Balkans, where it grows in light shady areas. The attractive foliage is slender dark green almost leathery leaves, creating multiple headed crowns. It is a biennial in its native habitat however in the UK it is a perennial the parent plant flowering for 2-5 years before the colony of self seeding plants grows up around it.
Used to harsh conditions going down to as low as -20c hot sunny short summers up to 40c and cold harsh winters going down to -20c
Here with us in the UK it prefers a sunnier site, better still in an open site in the herbaceous border. As the flowering season starts around July and continues into August the flowers turning to attractive seed heads their stately stems can dominate for several months.
Associating well will grasses and plants we have come to call Prairie Plantings like Echinacea, Eryngium and many more. It will also be happy in the sunny border.
Grown from seed the plant can take up to 3 years before it starts to flower, pot grown plants will usually flower a year earlier.
The flowers are usually thumb sized and densley clustered around the tall flowering stem, some sorts like D. ferruginea ‘Gigantea’ often have many side stems of smaller but plentifully produced flowers.
They can vary in colour the sort called D. ferruginea ‘Gelber Herold’ where the colour is more a Dijon Mustard yellow. The flowers are loved by pollinators, and the seed heads can often look like the stem has bees buzzing all up it as the seed heads ripen ready to shed their load. The seed is a good size larger than D. pupurea sorts.
We always suggest saving some seed from all of your favourite Digitalis and this is definetly one to do that too. Wait as long as you can and cut off some of the stem or side stem as the seed heads start to dry usually not before September, unless the summer has been particularly hot n dry. Leave in a dry box or paper envelope to fully ripen and seed will fall into the bag making it easier to harvest and store. Keep the drying seed in a cool dry place out of fluctuating temperatures.
Once dry and sieved to remove as much capsule debris the seed can be packed and kept in a fridge for some time. (Don’t freeze it)
Sowing seed at the time it ripens gives the best results, but take care not to sow it in a greenhouse one afternoon of excessive heat from the sun can dry the surface out and cause erratic germination, if this occurs take the seed tray and place it in a shady place and allow nature to take over the process. Keep and eye on it and water from time to time.
The seed we offer is in packs of 50 seeds (min) and this can be sown anytime from January to September. Sowing between January and April will require slight warmth (15°C to 21°C) to maintain germination. Later sowings from April to September will not require artificial heat or a greenhouse, they will require protection from sudden downpours or extremes of temperature. Putting a sheet of glass over the seed tray / pot is the best way to create the humidity.
Further detailed sowing information is sent with the seeds or look in the cultural information section of the web site.
