With their towering spires of bell-shaped blooms, the common foxglove is a favourite in UK cottage gardens – but can also be found growing wild along woodland edges, hedgerows and banks.
Foxgloves also provide valuable nectar for bumblebees and other pollinators. Left to self-seed, they can create natural-looking drifts of flowers from year to year, with varieties blooming in shades of purple, pink, white, cream and apricot.
As summer progresses, most common foxgloves finish flowering and start producing seed pods. But hold your horses. While it may be tempting to snip off the fading flower spikes, cutting them back straight away isn't always the best option.
Should you cut back common foxgloves after flowering?
That depends on your priorities. Do you want a tidier border by August? A self-sustaining drift of foxgloves? Or would you rather collect seed to grow them elsewhere? Each approach suits different gardens, so it's worth pausing before you reach for the secateurs.
Cut: for a tidier border
If you'd rather keep your borders looking neat than encourage new seedlings, it's time to prune back spent common foxglove flower spikes. The RHS advises gardeners to "cut back after flowering" and to "deadhead flowers regularly if seed is not required".
Once the flower spike has finished blooming, use clean secateurs to remove the stem at the base. Removing the main flower spike can also encourage smaller side shoots to bloom later in the season. This tidies the plant, prevents unwanted self-seeding and helps maintain a neat, well-kept border.
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Keep: to encourage self-seeding
Leave a few flower spikes in place if you want common foxgloves to return in future years. Common foxgloves are usually biennial, meaning the parent plant flowers, sets seed and then dies. The RHS recommends allowing foxgloves "to self-seed or replace annually after flowering" to keep a summer display.
There's no need to leave every flower spike standing. Instead, keep a handful of the tallest, healthiest seedheads, as these are more likely to produce viable seed. Because common foxgloves are usually biennial, allowing some seedheads to ripen helps ensure another display in future summers. If too many seedlings appear, thin them out in autumn or spring to avoid overcrowding.
Collect: to grow foxgloves elsewhere
If you want more control over where new foxgloves appear, collect the ripened seeds from August and sow them where you'd like them to grow. The RHS advises gardeners to "collect ripe seed on a dry day" once the seed capsules have changed colour, typically from green to brown, but before they split open and release their contents.
Using clean secateurs, cut off the ripe seedheads and leave them somewhere dry. Once the capsules have dried and opened, shake out the fine seeds and store them in a labelled paper envelope until you're ready to sow.
According to the RHS, common foxglove seeds can be sown outdoors in mid to late spring or started in trays before being planted into their final position in late summer.
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