Digitalis purpurea

I'm not a big fan of cold weather.  Any time I can't be out in the garden, at least for a bit, isn't a good day.  Yesterday was just too cold for all but the shortest of walks. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that those plants that stay evergreen even in this weather enjoy being out in it, they do seem to tolerate it much better than I do.  Another one of them is Digitalis or Foxglove, as least Digitalis purpurea which we have scattered here and there in the gardens. It grows in sun or shade and anything in between, scattering seeds around to make large colonies if allowed to.  The color selection changes from year to year, anything from white to pink to purple, light to dark, some with more spots, some with less, but all pretty.  After many years of self-hybridizing, we also have them in various heights from about 8 inches to over 4 feet tall.  This is another biennial, like the Mullein from yesterday.  Although I prefer perennials - things that just keep on from year to year and stay put in one place, the whimsy of something that moves from place to place (not always where I would choose) is the kind of thing that keeps gardening interesting.  I give you a photo today of the rosette, what we see over the winter.  It will bloom in late spring and some even rebloom later in the season before scattering seeds and then dying, making way for the next generation.

I don't know about you, but I certainly appreciate photos of things blooming  even in those months when they're not and all we have is a rosette of leaves and a promise of things to come.

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