Digitalis purpurea Camelot Lavender - Foxglove seeds

The Camelot Lavender Foxglove is a variety that bears long clusters of pale lavender to mauve flowers with a throat speckled with dark purple-brown.

Digitalis purpurea is the typical variety that we encounter in clearings, on the edges of woodlands, or simply along a path where the forest becomes less dense. It is a biennial or sometimes 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 flowering spikes that can reach 2 metres (7 feet). The plants naturally replace themselves through self-seeding.

Foxglove is easily recognisable by its finger-shaped flowers, which have given rise to 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 curve that reveals the throat. The 'Camelot Lavender' foxglove is a horticultural novelty derived from Digitalis purpurea which flowers abundantly in the first year. From May to July, it produces large pale lavender to mauve bell-shaped flowers with a throat speckled with dark purple-brown. It flowers from the bottom to the top of the cluster and offers nectar to bees and bumblebees.

At a mature height of 1.20 m (4ft), the 'Camelot Lavender' foxglove is ideal for colourfully covering the ground in flower beds or for delineating different areas in small gardens. It is undemanding in terms of soil, although it prefers humus-bearing soils. It likes moist soils but is sensitive to water stagnation. It should be planted in partial shade on the edge of woodlands, in sparsely wooded areas, or in an alpine garden alongside colourful astilbes or masterworts.

The foxglove flower has a controversial 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 medicine still used in the pharmaceutical industry in tiny doses.

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