I want to grow some foxglove (Digitalis purpurea or lanata). However, I live in Houston and foxglove simply will not tolerate the heat of our summers. Does anyone have any experience growing foxglove indoors? I already grow Colchicum autumnale and Aconitum napellus indoors. Would caring for foxglove be about the same?
Karen L
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You can grow anything indoors if you can supply the right conditions. Temperature shouldn't be a problem, assuming you have air conditioning. They can stand temperatures into the 80s easily if nights are cooler and they are watered a little. I have a lot of foxgloves around, purpureas, and we get midsummer temps in the high 70s/low 80s. Mine went to seed a couple of weeks ago.
Light might be a problem because foxgloves are--usually--so tall, though there are dwarf varieties. But if you can grow aconite indoors, maybe you have that problem already solved. Foxglove will bloom well with less light than aconite needs. If the height of the foxgloves is a problem, you might try something that gardening advice doesn't mention but which I found out by accident. Most foxgloves naturally produce one flower stalk, 4 to 6 feet tall. If you cut that stalk off when it's well above the rest of the plant but before it blooms, you'll probably get several side shoots that will bloom and the whole plant will be shorter.
They'll self-seed very well if you let them do it. I find a fresh crop every year and just move them to a suitable spot..
bethel
it can