Plant Encyclopedia

Description:

This amazing, sterile hybrid is bushy, fast growing, and produces large flame colored blossoms on upright, strong stems; attractive green lance-shaped leaves have some purplish variegation; a biennial that's happiest in part shade with adequate moisture

Ornamental Features

Illumination® Flame Tender Foxglove features bold spikes of fuchsia tubular flowers with orange overtones, buttery yellow throats and red streaks rising above the foliage from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves remain green in color with showy purple variegation throughout the season. The brick red stems can be quite attractive.

Landscape Attributes

Illumination® Flame Tender Foxglove is an herbaceous annual with a rigidly upright and towering form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Illumination® Flame Tender Foxglove is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Vertical Accent
• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Illumination® Flame Tender Foxglove will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity extending to 3 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 15 inches apart. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.

Illumination® Flame Tender Foxglove is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.