Something Funny’s Happening In My Garden!

I admire the beautiful Foxglove and have had them in my garden for years. Two years ago,  something happened. The upper flowers mutated into a large cup at the top of the flower stalk. Notice that the stalk still has a few of the usual flower buds which opened as expected. Very peculiar indeed.

Normal Foxglove,
photo by Mike Coates

Odd Large Cupped Flower

Last year had the same result, although there was also a normal looking foxglove in the same vicinity. (These photos are from last year.) This past spring I was excited to see another plant emerging in the same spot. It was doing splendidly until one day in early June. It seemed to have dried up overnight. Crispy dry – so I don’t know that I’ll ever see the mutants again. So sad. I rather liked them. I have a lovely yellow one growing in the back yard this year though. So far everything looks normal…..

from Max