Foxglove Excelsior Mix

The difference from a wild foxglove is where the bells sit. A wild plant hangs its flowers down one side of the stem. 'Excelsior' carries them all the way round, held out horizontally, so the spire is a dense even cylinder rather than a one-sided flag.

That gives you noticeably more flower per stem and a symmetrical, deliberate look at 1.2 to 1.5m, in cream, soft pink, deep rose and purple. It is the foxglove for a planting that is designed rather than allowed to happen, and for cutting, where a spire that looks the same from every side is worth having.

The flip side is that it loses some of the wild charm. If what you want is the plant that leans out of a hedge bank in June, the ordinary species does it better. The improved habit also softens over generations; self-sown offspring hold the colours reasonably well but drift back towards the one-sided wild arrangement.

Every part of a foxglove is highly toxic and eating any of it can be fatal. Wear gloves to handle the plants and keep the seed away from small children.