As well as the ongoing Parent Problems, I've also been dealing with foxgloves behaving badly - as the following photos demonstrate:
This is "Weird Foxglove 1" from the 13th of last month.
I'm not sure what it's trying to accomplish.
This is "Weird Foxglove 2" also from the 13th of June. It started off promisingly apart from copying the unusual fold in the lower lips from Weird Foxglove 1...
... but then decided to go full on horror by turning its upper flowers inside out...
... and topped it off at the beginning of July with a deformed peloric terminal flower!
This Digitalis lanata (or possibly D. cariensis f. trojana - I can't tell which) couldn't be bothered to stand upright and lolled about over some other border plants before throwing up branching stems of yet more little of open mouths!
Here's a rather better behaved example growing upright(ish).
My chocolate foxgloves (Digitalis parviflora) are VERY late this year - they've only just started to put up flower spikes!
(Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that far too late in the season I pulled them out of their pot, ripped them apart and shook off almost all the dust like soil they had been neglected in before giving them fresh compost...).
Here are a couple of rather more upstanding and well-behaved examples of foxglove (which are putting the others to shame):
Digitalis x valinii 'Berry Canary'
Digitalis hybrida 'Rising Phoenix'
. . .
And, finally: On Monday morning I heard, from my home office window, what sounded like the muted squeaking of terrified guinea pigs. Looking out, I discovered a green woodpecker and its young (which was the source of the squeaks, I suspect) eating ants from my drive.
[Did you know, the green woodpecker's tongue is so long that they keep it coiled around the inside of their skull when not slurping up ants?]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Foxgloves! We've had some very odd hybrids appear from just one batch of seedlings in the past, but I don't recall any inside-out flowers or "deformed peloric terminals"... The rosy pink hybrids in the last two pics are a blessed relief. [NB our foxgloves, despite their cabbage-sized leaves, have yet to show even a bud, let alone a flower, mutated or otherwise!]
ReplyDeleteFab video of the woodpeckers - we have the traditional Great Spotted variety (although we haven't seen/heard them for a while since the two weed trees either side of the back of our garden were felled), but the Green Woodpecker normally prefers lawns and parks, so we won't see them very much in our immediate neighbourhood.
Jx
I'm saving the seeds from the weird foxgloves to see what monsters they spawn. I'll keep you posted.
DeleteOh, and I have a couple of cabbage-like foxgloves too - one of them put up a flower spike last week but it's only a foot tall (if that).
I haven't seen green woodpeckers so close until I snapped these out of my window. Usually I catch a glimpse of them flying off from a field or allotment at a great distance.
Some very strange doings but all beautiful anyway. What a great video of the woodpeckers! That’s exciting.
ReplyDeleteIt was rather exciting, I must admit. For a couple of seconds I thought those woodpeckers were exotic birds visiting because of the recent heat, but then realised what they were.
DeleteAs far as the peckers.....we have those. I spotted my first ones a few weeks ago before vacation. Seems like I have been gone forever.
ReplyDeleteAs far as foxglove....I like them but find they are fickle. I have tried hollyhocks in my wildflower garden this year...and they are fairing far better for me here than the foxglove. I didn't even attempt them here this year.
It's so strange to hear that you have fickle foxgloves as, in my experience, they are very tolerant of a variety of conditions. Although, prolonged heat and dryness will do them in.
DeleteLast week I found some hollyhock seeds that I'd collected Iast year. I sowed them straight away, so hopefully will have some to show next year. I hope to see yours in the GPE!
I'll show you more than my hollyhock.....
DeleteWell, mutations or not, I love your 'gloves. And after lunch I shall try to get a post together about my foxglove. Yes, singular!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like being unique. I'm sure your foxglove just didn't want to mingle with the commoners!
DeleteObviously your Foxgloves are also jealous of the Lilies and they are turning themselves inside out in an attempt to be as attractive. I hope this solves the puzzle? They might also be performing for the Triffid contest? They want your attention, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteLove the peckers!
Sx
Ah, Ms Scarlet, I believe you've hit the nail on the head, there - Triffid foxgloves! (I do have a couple of photos that may make it into the Terrifying Triffidery exhibit.)
DeleteNever in all my days have I seen a green woodpecker! They must be unique to the UK. They're certainly not native to Canada.
ReplyDeleteI saw my first green decker here a few weeks back. I thought something was wrong with it...they are usually bright colored or flesh tone.
DeleteI saw my first green decker here a few weeks back. I thought something was wrong with it...they are usually bright colored or flesh tone.
DeleteAh, Very Mistress! Yes, green woodpeckers seem to be limited to Europe, Japan and Cuba. Although, I expect there must be a similar type over there on the North American continent as Mistress Maddie has seen one!
DeleteI love the Rising Phoenix. I had Zinnias that self seeded and produced horrors. Have you had any experience growing Foxglove trees aka paulownia? The reason I'm asking I visited Percy Throwers garden centre on Monday and took a cutting from one and it has already taken root in water, unbelievable but true.
ReplyDeleteThere's a foxglove tree I walk past on my way to work that I've always admired. I collected some seed from it once, but left the seed pods languishing in the greenhouse where they dessicated in the heat.
DeleteGood luck with yours. Not that it sounds like you need any luck as it's growing already!
WOW, sweetpea, but you have the Triffid contest in the bag! Those are seriously frightening! There is a woodpecker around here that I hear occasionally, but nowhere near as loud as the one who used to visit our house (literally the patio wall) in Savannah!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteYep, just hand me the winners trophy now! I mean: What are you talking about, Savvy? Everyone knows the Garden Photos Event and, by extension, Terrifying Triffidery is NOT a contest!
DeleteIf you say so, sweetpea. (it will always be a competition/contest in my mind and one where I always win...in my own mind, of course.) xoxo
DeleteHow Queer. Your foxgloves a very odd indeed. As Jon has said ours show no sign of wanting to flower at all. They were sown last year and are massive.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you will get absolutely monstrous foxgloves next year, Madam A? Fingers crossed!
Delete