When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (2024)

Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.

FOXGLOVE flowers are clusters of tubular-shaped blooms in various colours, but when do you cut them back?

By Kaisha Langton

Gardening: Expert demonstrates how to deadhead flowers

Foxglove plants are striking plants which adorn many gardens across Britain. They can grow in almost any soil, but do not like extremely wet or dry conditions. Express.co.uk has compiled a list of top tips to help you grow and cut back these flowers.

Related articles

  • Monty Don: Amazing natural pest remover to kill slugs and snails
  • Dog food recalled over salmonella contamination - full list

Foxgloves are hugely popular cottage garden plants known for their bell-shaped and tubular flowers.

Most plants are biennial which means they put on root and foliage growth in year one.

They tend to flower and self-seed in year two before dying.

Foxglove is a flower which blooms during spring and summer, thriving in full sun or partial shade.

READ MORE:What attracts wasps? The 5 things to help you deter wasps

When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (4)

When to cut back foxgloves: When should you cut back foxgloves? (Image: GETTY)

When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (5)

When to cut back foxgloves: Plants are biennial (Image: GETTY)

READ MORE

  • July gardening: The 7 gardening jobs to complete this month

All parts of foxgloves are poisonous and can kill an adult human if any part of it is infested.

You should grow foxgloves in moist but well-drained soil.

Most foxgloves thrive in dappled shade and prefer native habitats in woodland clearings or at the foot of a native hedge.

Foxgloves are very nectar-rich and therefore are highly appealing to pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies.

Invalid email

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (7)

When to cut back foxgloves: All parts of foxgloves are poisonous (Image: GETTY)

How to grow foxgloves

These plants prefer lighter soils.

However, they will grow well in heavy clay soils with lots of added organic matter, such as compost.

You should sow foxglove seeds outdoors in late spring or early summer in well-prepared seedbeds and keep the soil moist until germination takes place.

Foxgloves can be planted at any time of the year, but you should avoid doing so when the soil is frozen solid, waterlogged or extremely dry.

DON'T MISS
How to help exhausted bees - the truth behind the sugar water claim[INSIGHT]
How to design a bee friendly garden no matter the size[EXPLAINER]
How to deadhead dahlias: Easy tips for maintaining your garden[ANALYSIS]

Related articles

  • When to cut back lupins: Top tips to maintain a perfect garden
  • What to do with alliums after flowering: Quick and easy gardening tips

When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (10)

When to cut back foxgloves: Foxgloves prefer lighter soils (Image: GETTY)

READ MORE

  • When to cut back jasmine: Top tips to maintain a perfect garden

When to cut back foxgloves

Foxgloves require very little care and will flower and seed without any intervention from the gardener.

You should cut back the faded flower stems of foxgloves after the first flowers have finished.

When cutting back, you should try to cut the flower stems to group level and give them a good feed with liquid plant food to encourage a second flush of flowers.

When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (12)

When to cut back foxgloves: These plants require very little care and flower easily (Image: GETTY)

After flowering, you should cut back the faded flower stems to ground level, unless you want to collect seed for future sowing or want the plants to self-seed.

If you do want seeds for the future, you should cut down the stems after the seed has been collected or shed.

Deadheading spent blooms after flowering will encourage a second flush.

Perennial foxgloves should be cut back in autumn, ready to bloom again the following year.

Trending

    Tips for cutting back foxgloves plants

    • Always use clean and sterile pruning shears
    • Cut flowers off at a 45-degree angle - around a quarter of an inch above the next set of leaves.
    • Be careful not to throw the spikes into the compost as they can regrow there.
    • Reduce watering to every other week as your foxglove foliage dies in the late summer and early fall.

    Related articles

    • Should you deadhead lupins? 10 plants you should deadhead this year
    • How to deter cats from coming into your garden - 8 simple tips
    • What to do if you find a snake in your garden - three native snakes

    Gardening

    IPSO Regulated Copyright ©2024 Express Newspapers. "Daily Express" is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.

    When to cut back foxgloves - top tips for maintaining your garden (2024)
    Top Articles
    Latest Posts
    Article information

    Author: Rueben Jacobs

    Last Updated:

    Views: 6279

    Rating: 4.7 / 5 (57 voted)

    Reviews: 80% of readers found this page helpful

    Author information

    Name: Rueben Jacobs

    Birthday: 1999-03-14

    Address: 951 Caterina Walk, Schambergerside, CA 67667-0896

    Phone: +6881806848632

    Job: Internal Education Planner

    Hobby: Candle making, Cabaret, Poi, Gambling, Rock climbing, Wood carving, Computer programming

    Introduction: My name is Rueben Jacobs, I am a cooperative, beautiful, kind, comfortable, glamorous, open, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.