How to Grow Foxglove in Hot Climates

Foxgloves are a showstopper in the cottage garden and cut flower arrangements. Hummingbirds and bees also love these beautiful flowers. Growing foxgloves is not as challenging as it may seem. Learn how to grow foxglove (even if you live in a hot climate like the low desert of Arizona) and add these stunning flowers to your garden.

Article Outline

1. About Foxgloves
2. Choose a variety that blooms in its first year and start seeds indoors
3. Plant foxgloves at the best time for your climate
4. Select the best location for planting foxgloves
5. Care for foxglove as it grows
6. Foxglove cut flower tips

About foxgloves

First, let’s learn about these beautiful flowers, of which there are two types. “Biennials” are the oldest common varieties that grow easily in cooler climates. They form a rosette in the first year and bloom in the second year. They drop seeds and come back year after year. 

However, in hot climates, foxgloves don’t survive the summer and won’t be around to bloom the second year. Luckily for us warm-season growers, there is another type: a hybrid “perennial” that can be grown as an annual and blooms its first year. Perennial foxglove is a cool-season hardy annual that grows well in hot climates when planted during the cooler months. It will bloom in spring.

I’d also like to note that all parts of foxglove are poisonous. Use care and caution around pets and children. Now, on to the tips!

Choose a variety that blooms in its first year and start seeds indoors

First-year blooming types to try: 

• Dalmation Peach: Full-looking blooms; creamy peach colored.
• Camelot: Large full center spikes and good side shoots; flowers face outward instead of down in shades of lavender, rose, and white; 3-foot stalks.
• Foxy: Dwarf variety grows well in containers; blooms are white, cream, purple, and rose.

Surface sow seeds and cover lightly with vermiculite – light is required for germination. Mist lightly and use humidity domes until they germinate. Place under lights and grow indoors. For more information about starting seeds indoors, read this blog post. Click here to see my favorite seed-starting supplies on Amazon.

Plant foxgloves at the best time for your climate

Foxgloves are generally hardy to -10°F (-23°C). If foxgloves survive your winter’s coldest temperatures, plant seedlings in the garden 6 weeks before your first fall frost. If your winters are too cold, plant foxgloves outside 6-8 weeks before your last spring frost. Look up your frost dates here.

In the low desert of Arizona, plant seedlings outdoors from September to October.

Start seeds indoors about 12 weeks before you plant outside. For those in the low desert of Arizona, a good time to start seeds indoors is July to August.

The Perpetual Annual Flower Planting Calendar, available in my shop, helps you learn when to plant flowers in the low desert of Arizona and whether to plant seeds or transplants.

Select the best location for planting foxgloves

The nice thing about foxgloves is that they don’t mind partial sun or shady conditions. If you live in a hot climate area, a shadier spot will help them last longer in the spring. Choose an area with rich, well-draining soil with plenty of added compost.

Avoid overly wet soil in the winter. Foxgloves are susceptible to root rot, wilt, blight, powdery mildew, and fungal diseases. Reduce opportunities for disease by allowing good airflow between plants, avoiding water on leaves, and planting in well-draining soil. 

Space foxgloves about 6″ (30cm) apart for cut flowers or about a foot apart (30cm) for landscape plants. Remember that foxglove blooms are typically quite tall, about 3 feet or more, so they look good against a fence or tall borders. 

Care for foxglove as it grows

After planting, the leaves grow and the plant goes somewhat dormant and grows slowly during the colder months of fall and winter. As temperatures warm in the spring, growth will take off, and flower shoots will form.  

• Foxglove grows best in moist (not wet) soil; do not let them dry out. 
• Mulch plants after planting. 
• Add a thin layer of compost to the growing plants in the spring. 
• Stake tall varieties. 

Foxgloves are deer (and rabbit) resistant. However, possible pests include aphids, Japanese beetles, mealy bugs, and thrips. Generally, foxgloves are pest-free in my garden and easy to grow.

Foxglove cut flower tips

If you want to use them as cut flowers, cut as soon as the first flower opens on the bottom—others will continue to open, but they won’t last as long once they’ve been pollinated. Blooms will last 6-8 days in a vase with a preservative. But I love leaving them in the landscape and enjoying the flowers and the wildlife they attract. 

To keep blooms going, remove spent blooms right away. You usually get a few smaller spikes. You can also leave the blooms in place to collect seeds to plant next season. Remove spent plants at the end of the season; once temperatures get too hot, they will die back.

If you live where it doesn’t get too hot, they may also survive and grow over the summer. 

Sources for this article about how to grow foxglove: 

• The Cut Flower Handbook by Lisa Mason Ziegler
• Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein with Julie Chai
• The Old Farmer’s Almanac Flower Gardener’s Handbook 

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