Make It Green Garden Center

Welcome to our plant search tool. This database contains many of the thousands of plants that we carry. There are some notable exceptions. Hundreds of new perennials come out every year and Make It Green has been a leader in making them available to you. Eventually the recent introductions will make it to our plant search tool but every year there will be a lag between our in-store plant selection and this search tool. Unfortunately this search tool can't cover everything that we will carry this year. We also carry over 100 varieties of rare and unusual evergreens and over 100 varieties of hard-to-find shrubs many of which are not in the plant search. Click on the Plant List button for a list of nearly all the woody plants (trees, shrubs and evergreens) that we have ordered or already have in stock for this coming year.



perennial

Excelsior Group Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior Group'

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Excelsior Group Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior Group') at Make It Green Garden Centre

Excelsior Group Foxglove flowers

Excelsior Group Foxglove flowers

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

Plant Height:  3 feet

Flower Height:  4 feet

Spacing:  14 inches

Sunlight:  full sun  partial shade 

Hardiness Zone:  4a

Other Names:  Excelsior Mix

Group/Class:  Excelsior Group

Description:

Elegant, horizontal tubular flowers in pastel shades of creamy yellow, white, purple, or pink; tall spikes rise above attractive green lance-shaped leaves; a biennial that's happiest in part shade with adequate moisture; deadhead to encourage re-blooming

Ornamental Features

Excelsior Group Foxglove features bold spikes of pink tubular flowers with white overtones and deep purple spots rising above the foliage from late spring to mid summer, which emerge from distinctive creamy white flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves remain green in colour throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Excelsior Group Foxglove is an herbaceous perennial 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 plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep. Trim off the flower heads after they fade and die to encourage more blooms late into the season. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

  • Self-Seeding

Excelsior Group Foxglove is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Excelsior Group Foxglove will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity extending to 4 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 14 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. It grows at a fast rate, and tends to be biennial, meaning that it puts on vegetative growth the first year, flowers the second, and then dies. However, this species tends to self-seed and will thereby endure for years in the garden if allowed. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

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 is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, 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.

Excelsior Group 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. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.

 
 
Hardiness Zone Plant Height Minimum Sunlight
Characteristics
Articulation  Massing  Garden  Container 
Applications
Flowers  Plant Form  Attracts Wildlife 
Ornamental Features