Digitalis purpurea Camelot Cream - Foxglove seeds

The 'Camelot Cream' Foxglove is a biennial with long clusters of creamy white flowers with a speckled purple-brown throat.

Digitalis purpurea is the typical species that we encounter in clearings, on the edges of woodlands, or simply along a path when the forest becomes less dense. It is a biennial or sometimes a short-lived perennial of the Scrophulariaceae family, forming a basal clump 20 to 40 cm (8 to 16in) wide in the first year. In the second year, it produces tall flower spikes that can reach 2 metres (7 feet). Then the plants naturally replace themselves through self-seeding.

The foxglove is easily recognizable by its finger-shaped flowers, a shape that has influenced its scientific and common names: shepherd's dice, witch's gloves, our lady's gloves etc. The flowers are tubular, 4 to 5 cm (2in) long corollas, with fused petals, usually pendent with a slight upward bend that reveals the throat. 'Camelot Cream' is a horticultural novelty producing large cream-white bells with a speckled purple-brown throat from May to July. It blooms from the bottom to the top of the cluster and offers nectar to bees.

At maturity it reaches 1.20 metres (4 feet) high. The 'Camelot Cream' foxglove is ideal for colourful ground cover in the back of borders or to delineate different areas in small gardens. It is undemanding in terms of soil, although it prefers humus-bearing ones. It likes moist soils but is sensitive to water stagnation. It can be positioned in semi-shade on the edge of woodlands, in sparsely populated copse, or an alpine garden alongside colourful astilbes or masterworts.

The foxglove flower is surrounded by a notorious reputation due to its toxicity. Used for white or black magic purposes according to legends, all related to the presence of digitalin in all parts of the plant. It has since been found to be a powerful heart tonic which is still used in the pharmaceutical industry in tiny doses.

Attention, these seeds are reserved for very experienced gardeners accustomed to sowing very fine seeds. These seeds are as fine as dust, barely visible to the naked eye.