Should You Pull up Foxgloves After Flowering? + [More Tips]

What are foxgloves? Why do they grow? What are some of the effects of foxgloves? As you read through this article, you can be sure to have all the answers. However, first things first, what are we talking about? Digitalis purpurea commonly known as foxglove flowers is a cluster of tubular-shaped blooms that blossom in various colors. The colors include purple as derived from its scientific name, white, yellow, pink, red, and lavender colors. 

Nonetheless, the foxglove flower is commonly available in the summer. The plant can be grown under favorable conditions except direct sunlight during the day. You should pull up foxgloves after flowering if you don’t want them to regrow wildly on your farm. However, the foxglove flower bears various essential benefits and merits hence you should consider their progress after pulling them up. 

ALso Check: Are Foxgloves Weeds?

Should You Pull up Foxgloves After Flowering? 

Many people after understanding what foxglove plants entail, may have mixed thoughts about growing them in their gardens. However, if you take the necessary precautions, growing the foxgloves flowers is easy, and fun. Also, with their huge benefits, they can become a game-changer to many people’s lives. Therefore, it is advisable to pull up foxgloves after flowering for various reasons. 

Reasons Why You Should Pull Back Foxgloves After Flowering

The first reason for pulling back the plants is that you will be able to plant your foxgloves according to the size of the land and they will not grow wildly at one corner. Secondly, your garden will have a systematic formation especially when you are deciding to grow other plants. Thirdly, when you pull up foxgloves after flowering, you are certain not to have dead plants on your field as they are both dangerous and poisonous. 

Additionally, as a gardener, you will control the scale on which your foxglove flowers will grow depending on your demand or use. Removing the flower before the seeds its produces drop to the ground will reduce further production of the foxglove. The plant can also be cut off at the basal rosettes. This will kill the plant hence, it will wilt and decay to the ground as organic matter without any seeds to lay off for reproduction.

How to Grow Foxgloves 

As established earlier, foxgloves are a cluster of tubular-shaped blooms; however, how can you grow these beautiful summer flowers in your garden? And what part will they play once established in your garden? Foxgloves flowers are well known to grow in well-drained soils. To enable their sprouting, and avoid wilting, the soil should be kept moist at all times. The foxglove flower can blossom into a larger flower as long as the gardener keeps the soil in the preferred conditions. That is not too soggy or dry. 

From scratch, the foxglove flower can be easily grown from seedlings; however, the gardener has to wait until the second year after planting for the flower to blossom. After a long period of patience, the foxgloves will reproduce further into your garden.  When the last flower of the foxglove is left in the field, it dries after some time and later drops its seedlings into the ground. Once the season becomes favourable, the foxglove flower seedlings reproduces again.

Foxgloves grow in two different ways; biennial types and perennial foxgloves. The biennial foxgloves are dug up after their seeds have fallen on the ground. This encourages proper growth and establishment of the seedlings in the soil. However, perennial foxgloves are cut back before the next season starts. They are later left to bloom again in the following year. 

Where Should You Plant the Foxglove Flowers? 

As stated earlier, most foxglove flowers grow under specific climatic conditions. Nonetheless, they have a better blossoming when they are shaded away from direct sunlight. The advantage of growing foxglove flowers is that they can dwell well in any type of soil. However, the soil should have good drainage characteristic? Planting foxgloves is easy, therefore, you need to lay the best foundation for the seedlings to yield better. Also, if you don’t want to struggle planting your foxgloves, you can opt to plant them two years in a row.  

Effects of Foxgloves Flowers 

All that glitters is not gold. This saying is similarly applicable to the foxglove flower. After the previous explanation of foxgloves, you might be having a picture of what they look like. Nonetheless, you may also have heard that the flowers are poisonous. It is true that foxglove flowers are poisonous. But why is the most beautiful wild plant poisonous to touch? And how will you know that you may be suffering from the foxglove flower poison? 

The foxglove flower is said to be symbolic and offers unique qualities. This includes self-worth, ambition, relationship, self-confidence among other qualities. The foxglove poisonous touch is however not the type to be too afraid of. Thus, you can happily plant the foxglove even on large scale but you should be careful about how you interact with it especially after it blossoms. Below are sign and symptoms of being poisoned by the foxglove plant. 

How Does Foxglove Poison Manifest?

The most dangerous effect comes if one happens to eat the flower seeds. You will have high symptoms of nausea, skin irritation, frequent headaches, and sensory retardation. Nonetheless, by consuming a large portion of the plant; that is five milligrams of the dried plant or two grams of its leaves, the poison in them can easily kill you. This is by causing irregular heart rhythms leading to failures.  

Also, if you come into contact with foxglove plants, you might have allergic reactions. However, the most common ones are rashes on the skin, sore throat, and you may be prone to easy attractions of pneumonia, and Haemoptysis which is a condition where the patient coughs out blood due to lung infections caused by the foxglove flower poison. Nonetheless, the poison can be controlled and completely cured. The healing process depends on the age of the infected, and how severe the condition is. 

Benefits of Foxglove Flowers

Despite the foxglove flower being a poisonous plant, it also offers various health advantages to various diseases. The chemical formulae abstracted from the foxglove plant are used in the manufacturing of drugs called digoxins. This drug establishes stronger heart muscles after intake and also changes the heart rate which in turn increases the blood output. Lack of proper treatment of heart muscles may cause other conditions such as asthma also, body dysfunctions such as epilepsy, tuberculosis, constipation, headaches, and spasm. However, more research is being done on the primary background of foxgloves and the treatment of these diseases.    

FAQs on Should You Pull Foxgloves After Flowering

1.What do I do with foxgloves after flowering? 

After foxgloves have flowered, you may opt to cut them down at the basal rosettes. You then leave the plant to dry up on its own as the end of the season approaches. Also, at the base of the foxgloves, you should get rid of debris by disposing them in a plastic bag. These techniques will help you control the growth rate of your foxgloves. 

2. Do foxgloves grow back every year? 

Yes, foxgloves are perennial plants that regrow every year. However, within the first year after planting, they are biennial. From the second year of planting after they start blooming, they are now referred to as perennial. They will later grow every year when conditions are conducive. 

3. How long does a foxglove plant live after flowering? 

The majority of foxgloves have a short life span. Their life cycle is quite short even for the biennial species. This is because, after the two years they tend to mature completely, but once they flower they die. The gardener may pull up their foxgloves after they die before or after they set seed. The same applies to perennial foxgloves. 

Final Verdict 

Foxglove flowers have been grown for a long time despite their wild horrifying characteristics. They can be easily used to save a life and can also play a huge role in taking one. It does not matter whether it’s a human being or an animal, the poisonous chemical in the foxglove flowers is both lethal and vital. However, with dedication and proper studies about the plant, the foxglove flowers may take the medical industry up a milestone by their medicinal benefits, especially in heart-related problems.  

Also, the plant is surprisingly easy to grow as it can survive in any type of soil as long as it has proper drainage. Additionally, with large-scale planting, the foxglove grows rapidly and wildly. It may be left in the field to reproduce itself or the gardener may opt to pull up the foxgloves after flowering. This will encourage a more orderly and systematic way of controlling plants growth. 

Rather than all the health effects the foxglove flowers have, they are also referred to as a symbol of hope and love. They are used in decorating banquets and additional flower bouquets. They are symbolic among many communities, relationships and resemble various crucial life virtues including love. All in all, foxgloves should be pulled up after flowering to take precautions for various health reasons.