Foxy Spring a la Foxgloves

"That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ. 

And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it." 

-  Winifred Mary Letts

Leave it to The Almighty to create a garden first to then place His children therein. For some dear clients in Montgomery, I planted foxgloves back in November and promised them this spring would be splendid. Though Eden wasn’t the M.O. for this pied a terre, a fabulous floral fashion was in mind. 



Foxy foxgloves shooting out over the lush new growth of spring prove a riotous entrance for this post-azalea portion of spring. Huechera, snaps, and of course some pansies and violas all finish out this vernal symphony, but the foxgloves are definitely the crescendo of this floral symphonic number.

A formal cottage style garden I dreamt up and then had implemented by the fantastic Falkner Gardens just screamed for foxgloves. Rather than planting these in full bloom from the nursery in the spring, they have had all winter to ready themselves for their spring bolt. A solid few weeks of splendor will adorn this garden and give a lovely interlude between the spring standards and the summer blossoms not too far away.

Artemisia, parsley, and bolted kales and mustards make for that fun combo of parterre and potager this Farmer so loves. The dancing hues of green in various silver, chartreuse, caramel, and simple Verdi Gris tints make for lovely contrasts with the painted blue bench, boxwood hedges, and bubbling limestone fountain. A secret garden of sorts, for who would know this nod to England was just off one of Montgomery’s loveliest lanes.



Patience is virtuous I hear, but I do know ‘tis true, especially in the garden. Some things are just best left to nature and the perfect cadence, order, and timing the seasons present. Though science can explain the specifics of botany and horticulture, there is just something awe-inspiring, nostalgic, romantic, and full of childhood wonderment that the process of growing things provides. To plan and plant along with the seasons’ rhythm will make your garden in sync with nature’s cyclical pattern. 



When you plant it right, it’ll just bloom right my friends. Splendid Spring, plant in fall…Fabulous Fall, plant in spring. Memorize this mantra and your garden shall be the talk of the town! Mister Frost summed up an April day and I couldn’t help but feel the same sentiment surrounded by the foxgloves in this garden.

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
-  Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926