This new foxglove was a surprise! Thinking I'd only picked up purple starts, I didn't realize that Excelsior is a hybrid variety where the flowers are anywhere from pink to purple to this super interesting white with purple specs in the interior! While it's definitely not reaching the 4-6' heights that I'm used to, it's definitely put up with a lot of the weird soil conditions that come up when you de-grass a lawn and there is, well, almost no nutritional value to the soil.
Foxgloves were one of my favorite things to spot along the path that we mowed along the creek on the lowest part of our property back at the farm, and a fantastic 'deer-safe' addition to our front garden that I chose not to fence in. Back then, a visiting friend who was temporarily camping in our pasture educated me on the fact that they are biennial, taking all the 'OMG I killed it!' guilt away immediately :)
(HINT: Along with woody herbs like rosemary and lavender, native plants are exceptionally good for designing a garden where deer may visit. Think about it, if they weren't, they wouldn't exist!)
These babies self-seed pretty happily (but not aggressively) if allowed, so we'll cross our fingers for that, as well as for them to get stronger and taller in future iterations.
"O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep,-- Nature's observatory--whence the dell, In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell, May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep 'Mongst boughs pavilion'd, where the deer's swift leap Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell." ~ John Keats
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