EM, my plant is getting afternoon shade. Maybe that is the difference? Believe me, I've grown scores of (truly) humidity sensitive plants...or more correctly tried to grow them. This plant doesn't seem particularly humidity sensitive to me. OTOH, it's only been one year. I wouldn't want people to jump to conclusions. The high altitude South African forbs like Sebaea, Glumicalyx, Gazania, or Wahlenbergia can cruise along fine for half of the summer until a big rainstorm comes along. BAM...they are literally dead overnight. No matter how well drained the soil is.
Big test now will be getting mine through winter. I'm not a protector but it's at least in a sheltered spot, near my feijoa bushes that returned from their roots after this winter. I might give it a little extra mulch but no more than that. It is 50% Digitalis purpurea, and those are pretty darn hardy, self-seeding in interior New England.

annette, would you plse tell more about your garden room? what is it- and what is its construction,size and sun exposure, and what do you use it for? do you overwinter anything in it? i see you have a cold greenhouse-how wonderful.

can you grow phormiums and do they take your winters? I want them sooo badly but have spent lots of $ on them and lost them inside because i don't have any cold storage area w/ light. no garage, no cold cellar (ours actually IS a 'cold cellar' because it dates to 1815, but it stays around 60 because it is so small and has our water heater, furnace and freezers.)

OT: annette, have you ever been to the gardens at Chosin Pottery? Visiting there 10 or so yrs ago was one of my life's greatest experiences. if you haven't been PLSE GO!!

Here is a link that might be useful: gardens at Chosin Pottery, Vancouver Isl. B.C.

Well, mine has been in repeat bloom pretty much all summer in part sun. with more and more spikes in each wave, which is much better than foxgloves do. I like the color combination in the flowers. The real test will be if it comes back next spring.

But I'm still happy I paid $6 dollars on discount for it and not more.

arbo, I haven't been to Robin and Judi's garden but my DS2 has, he lives very close to them. Our garden club was lucky to have Robin give talk and show sides of their amazing garden and pottery at one of our meetings so I can imagine the thrill you had seeing it in person.

As to my garden room, nothing spectacular, I have a few pictures taken from a couple of years ago and as I only know how to post one picture at a time I'll put it in a separate thread later tonight, going out for dinner shortly, our 58th wedding anniversary :).

Annette

Well, one of mine bloomed, if you could call it that. The flowers were unimpressive. The other plant still has not bloomed. What a waste!

My experience too 'diggin'. I had it in a properly placed planter with quality potting soil and it just muddled through the summer.

Personally, just looking at the photo here, the flower form doesn't appeal to me (it's worse than a normal digitalis bloom imo).

Mine has been blooming all summer as well. Right now has 8 flower spikes on it and more coming. Mine is on a wide open, south facing deck in full sun. Container planting, obviously. So far, I am very satisfied with the performance of this plant........and the hummers sure do like it! Will keep my fingers crossed on the overwintering chances. Just not at all sure about that.

Garden gal, mine also has been blooming all summer but you have me pouting, mine only has 4 spikes on it right now and can't see any new ones forming. So far I'm really liking this plant, if it overwinters it's a keeper.

Annette

Mine finally stopped blooming a few days ago after--I think I got it back in March, and it was in bloom when I got it. It bloomed all spring and all summer. It has a lot of new foliage now, so it may start blooming again--I still wonder if it so going to be around next year--I don't know. I guess I got my money's worth out of it. It is planted in full sun, sunrise to sunset, and it doesn't get a whole lot of water.

Annette, to be perfectly honest, I am certain there is more than one plant in the pot, hence the number of bloom stalks :-)) The owner of my nursery (the one I work with) grew these plants himself from plugs and we offered them for sale in various sizes. I opted for a big one to start - 2G container - and there looks to be about 3 plants in it.

I did get Digiplexis this spring and I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's not a very strong grower. I noticed that in windy rainy weather it fell over and I had to stake it up. Unfortunately the growing tips had bent upwards just over night and they didn't unbend after being staked so I had rather bent stems that went one way and then the other. It flowered okay, but when summer got here, it sorta stopped. If it makes it through the winter fine if not fine, but I don't know if I'd buy this plant again.

Not looking very promising so far, at least from my POV, for winter hardiness. Although it's only been down to about 20F/-6.6C so far (http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KMDNORTH18#history/s20141031/e20141130/mmonth) the top of it is looking quite crispy and brown, with only a bit of possibly promising green near the base. By contrast:
the wild foxgloves in my yard are still green as can be, and practically look like they are growing in today's mild weather. I just sprayed a few with herbicide because they've spread beyond the parts of the yard where it used to seem cute to let them self-seed.
Phygelius 'Devils' Tears' top growth is still strong with some stems trying to bloom if we had another week of mild weather which we probably won't.
Similarly, Delospermas in sheltered spots are budding up as though to bloom.
Mahonia X media F2 seedling opened its first floret today.

So...not really a portrait of zn 7/8 hardiness. It is entirely possible that, rather than being intermediate in hardiness, it will only be as hardy as the tenderest parent...in this case the zn 9b-10a Macaronesian Digitalis. (formerly Isoplexis) I still have one inside that will become a permanent container plant if need be. I'm not really into container plants but have a few...in any case I'm glad I only paid a few dollars for these now and not the $15-20 that national catalog merchants wanted. Thank you Groff's plant farm!

It was promoted as an annual when I purchased it, so I don't expect to see it in the spring. What a bust! Never again. If it sounds too good to be true....

Yes I suppose I should clarify, Groffs was selling it as an annual. I'm not implying there was deception on anyone's part - the national vendors were listing it as a zn 8 perennial. It will be interesting to know if the ones in the PNW survive though, as the Isoplexii (haha) were generally considered too tender ever for that climate, when they started becoming more common around 2000.

I don't avoid pricey temperennials on principle. If they provide a good show and (especially) if they can be propagated/stored indoors to grow in following seasons, I'll use them in the garden (for instance, Brugmansias, cannas and all manner of subtropicals grown from cuttings and tubers).

I'm not crazy about the Digiplexis, mainly the color and lack of hardiness/propagatibility. If I'm looking for that form, there are plenty of Digitalis hybrids and species that are more attractive.

It fits into a nurseryman's dream category - an expensive plant that must be repurchased annually (like most hybrid mums, poinsettias etc.).

Mine is hanging in, when the temperature dropped drastically the first frost here was a killer we ended up with temps below freezing for a week or so. I moved the container mine is planted in to my cool greenhouse, the top growth died off but it has popped several new crowns. Now we're in the midst of the pineapple express, temps at least 10 degrees above normal for this time of year, torrential rain, lots of flooding and mudslides are doing a lot of damage on V.I. but we're OK other than we have a boil water alert on.
I hate to think what this fluctuation in temps is doing to my garden as I know we will eventually have another freeze. It looks like this particular plant falls in with Brugmansias and needs the same kind of care.

Annette

Couple things:
Just as I was throwing out the latest Wayside catalog into the recyling bin, I decided "oh, just for old time's sake, I'll take a quick look". Saw that they are now offering a new Digitalis X ex. Isoplexis hybrid, with "improved hardiness"! LOL. I'm sure it's no accident that the one they knew might be hardier was introduced after the other one. Might make a difference in places like the PNW, but I doubt even the hardier one is worth fussing with here.

It still disgusts me that the traditional hybrid Foxglove 'Spice Island', which was definitely a vastly superior plant for most of North America but almost as exotic looking (some would also say better), has disppeared from commerce here.

But, luckily I didn't throw the very dead looking 'Illumination Flame' plant in my garage away, because it now has tiny new growth up from the roots. Entirely up from the roots...not off the main rosette which did die. So, they are at least freeze-free garage hardy here! Obviously the one outside was completely dead, after a winter like the last one.

gardengal, did yours come back in the PNW?

No. But to be honest, it was in a container and did get exposed to an early sharp cold snap in November where temps in my area dropped into the low 20's for several days. Cold enough to knock my Melianthus back to the roots (drat!! no flowers this year, either). So I am not overly surprised, as I guessed this plant would be marginal at best.

Because I liked the flower color so much and the entertainment it provided the hummingbirds, I did get another this spring but this one is going in the ground. Will see exactly how perennial it is next year :-)

It is tagged to z8 (10F), but I suspect the Canary Island influence of the Isoplexis parentage makes this a bit on the tender side.

Mine didn't survive either, we had the same unexpected cold snap the beginning of November, if fact it froze solid while still in full bloom. I tried moving it to the greenhouse, too late, it tried to put out a bit of new growth from the crown but it capitulated :(.
I'm willing to try it again as it really performed for me throughout the summer, I for one liked it a lot. If I manage to find another I'll make sure it has better protection this time around, I grew mine in a container so easily moved to the greenhouse for the winter.

UPDATE:

My experience with this annual in the summer of 2014 was nothing special (as I wrote above).

To make a long story shorter I purchased another and this has done very well this season.

Here it is today:

What has your experience been with it this summer?

The tiny root offset from mine has grown incredibly slowly, but, in its favor, survived this year's cycle of incredibly wet followed by very hot and dry. That would have killed some plants. So it seems at least to inherent the humidity tolerance of Digitalis: for comparison the Canary Echiums cannot survive here in summer. (I suspect the spectacular ones at Longwood are bulked up for winter display in their special air-conditioned conservatory, not the normal production ones which of course would be quite humid in summer. Alternately, they are raised in a cool summer climate by a wholesaler and shipped here for a single season of specialized finishing off and display, as is the case with Longwood's annual Meconopsis show. They are grown in Alaska and then tricked into late winter growth by HID lighting.)
I will try to keep it happy over winter and hope for a re-bloom next summer. I wonder how they are propagated.

UPDATE:

I potted this digiplexis "Berry Canary" a couple of weeks ago and it is doing doing really well.

Who else has a 'digi' this season?

Yeah I think this is the one being sold as hardier. It looks more like plain foxglove to me, maybe it is a backcross to D. purpurea. The little plantlet I mention I had of 'Illumination Flame' - a natural root offset of a dead rosette - died out before reblooming so in this climate at least they are behaving more as biennials. Still wish someone would bring back Digitalis 'Spice Island'. It's really getting infuriating how the plant patent system ends up diminishing the choices we have available but I digress...

Oooh they look terrific, Julie...but so site specific. Would look fab with aeonium schwartkopf...or echeverias. Oh, my bad...having impure thoughts now (smacks wrists sharply).

Yeah, like I speculated way back when, the climate of SoCal suits this tender, Mediterranean climate plant. Thanks for the update. I'm sure the national catalog retailers are no longer pushing these though, because I doubt they did well for many people in non-maritime/Csb-Csa climates.

I am just trying this plant down here in Central Florida. They went through some frosts here without any foliar damage, and are still behaving as forbs so far, The only problems seen so far are that they do not like whole days in the sun, and just yesterday I found tiny caterpillars eating the leaves. (Here comes the bacillus thurigensis!) As a horticulturist, I think the lack of blooms so often reported on this plant is a lack of vernalization - most foxgloves must live through a winter-and spring rotation before they will bloom. I think they are hardy to 15 to 20 degrees F, so the process of vernalization will be iffy in cold climes: to give them just enough cold but not too much.

Well, I was wrong with what a posted immediately prior - because I saw these fmr. Isoplexis hybrids in the latest Wayside catalog before tossing it out.

Yeah, issue in Florida is going to be the hot summers, and lack of appropriate seasonal cues. Does it try to bloom in winter for you? I didn't have an issue getting it to bloom, but it (the original one, 'Illumination Flame') was clearly only zn 8b hardy at most, more like 9a. They now have a 2nd one they say is hardier, of course. ('Berry Canary'?)

I again reiterate that the plain old all-Digitalis hybrid 'Spice Island' was better looking, and hardier, and lasted about 3 years for me. I kick myself for not taking cuttings when I had the chance. I didn't realize a decade ago the 'shell game' going on with patented and trademarked plants. A sizable fraction of which are not bred to be long-term garden performers. (in the case of 'Spice Island', not even 'perennial' foxgloves are terribly long lasting, though I have one now in its 3rd year, and doesn't seem in decline yet. I forgot to add it to my inventory, but it's probably Digitalis obscura, planted in dry, lean soil.)

When I lived in Zone 7 Georgia, Foxy Foxglove would seed all over the place, and bloom beautifully the next spring, as long as their bed never dried out. It almost becomes a perennial in behavior when it reseeds itself each year.

A cynic speaks:

I have noticed that this is not being mercilessly puffed in the plant catalogues this year...and must conclude that it is going the same way as verbascum 'Blue Lagoon' (that is, down the drain).

After 4 different attempts, I have given up on Digiplexis being a real perennial.......at least in my location. Didn't even manage to make it through what was for us an extremely mild winter!!

But the plant blooms nonstop from late spring to almost full winter (late November in my garden), is beloved by my resident hummers and is a gorgeous rich, warm color so I will continue to grow as a seasonal plant. And since the deer ignore it like they do our naturalized digitalis, so much the better!!

"...is a gorgeous rich, warm color so I will continue to grow as a seasonal plant."

Funny you mention this right now as I was just today looking for a Digiplexis or two for a container.

Rouge, I am of the opinion that these do much better in containers than they do in the ground. The ones I grew in containers early on in my digiplexis history got much fuller and produced many more flower spikes than those I planted in the ground (mistakenly thinking they would demonstrate better winter hardiness). Since I have given up on the long term presence of these in a garden bed, I am going back to planting them in a container :-) That coral-y, rusty orange is my favorite color and goes so well with my other plantings.

I agree. Mine went kaput in the ground. They are so pretty though! (Lower right in photo)

I am of the opinion that these do much better in containers than they do in the ground.

It has taken a long time to bulk up.

Wow, old thread!

My finding was that, no, they did not have acute susceptibility to humidity, but they weren't especially vigorous in this climate, either. And also, no way zone 8 was the right hardiness rating.

'Spice Island' was superior for a non-maritime climate, but of course is no longer available in the USA. The tissue culture outfits probably thought it was too good of a garden performer LOL. "We need to sell stuff less permanent to break even here, folks." Which would be a big lie of course. It's sad to see what's become of American horticulture, but I digress.

Err David, you don't digress much...and it's not just horticulture.

David, you are so right about that hardiness rating!! And I am in a very mild location that is more zone 9 than 8 (only had a couple of frosts last winter and no seriously cold temps) and even that was not sufficient for these things to survive. 4 or 5 years of trying and I am convinced that these need to be treated as an annual in most parts of the country.

I am trying something new this year to see if the perennial performance is any better. Labeled as Digitalis x hybrida, I have since determind that is it taxonomically Digitalis x valinii (cross between D. purpurea and D. canariensis) and it is one of the new Foxlight™ series, 'Rose Ivory'. Coloring is almost identical to the Illumination Flame although the flower spikes are not nearly as dense. And listed as hardy to zone 7!! We shall see :-))

The Plantsman Survey on Digitalis hybrids

Wow, apparently hybridizers find these an irresistible subject of late. Let us know how it goes! I'm all for heretofore unconsidered advances in horticulture, when they prove to be superior garden performers: a really commendable lily: Kushi Maya

And btw - interesting article! Thanks for the link. Transatlantic Plantsman seems like a worthy blog but I haven't really had time to read it in the past couple years. Something that jumped out right away was that it's odd Digitalis parviflora hasn't been used as a parent. Might impart a darker coloring than the other parents.

Update (November 2018):

While many other of our annuals have fallen by the wayside with the inevitable cooler temps (as low as 32 F up till now) our "Digi" looks just fine. Here it is as of yesterday.

(Sunset Zone 9; USDA zone 9b)

Looks like I'm reviving an old thread, but thought I'd add my experience to the mix. I bought my Digiplexis "Illumination Flame" in full bloom in Spring 2018 and potted it up in a 14"w x 12"d pot. It bloomed beautifully all that Summer, wintered over fine, and bloomed even more lushly the next two Spring/Summer seasons. It is in dappled shade with full sun a couple of times a day. This Spring (2021) it failed to bloom and was attacked by scale, their associated ants, and sooty mold. We had a very hot spell in April (100 degrees) that may have stressed it. I decided to bid it farewell and removed it from the pot. It had become extremely rootbound, so I imagine that added to its stress.

My Digiplexis was a beautiful, colorful, stately plant (especially in its turquoise pot), an absolute favorite of the hummingbirds, and completely deerPROOF!!, so even though it proved to be a short lived perennial in the pot, it was well worth the $12.00 I spent on it and I will definitely plant one again next Spring if I can find one!

Interesting to see this thread bumped...just today I got one of the "digiplexi" can't even remember which - from a mail order nursery. Reason is NOT to have a permanent landscape or container plant for ornamental purposes. It will be carefully cossetted by growing in a sandy/loose fast draining soil mix, maybe even treated with a fungicide, to try to keep it alive a few years. (winters in my faux greenhouse garage, of course) I'm accumulating a variety of Digitalis species with the intention of breeding them. So that is the reason for getting it, to use its pollen on other Digitalis, assuming it isn't pollen sterile.

Unfortunately, digiplexis a sterile hybrid. Could you not do something similar if you got your hands on an isoplexis or two? Annie's Annuals carries them, although they are currently out of stock.......

I also discovered that Illumination Raspberry and Berry Canary are supposedly a full zone hardier than Illumination Flame. If I liked those colors I might consider giving them a try but it was the coloring of Flame that really struck me.

Is it sterile both ways though? I guess so. I knew they didn't produce seed but I thought they might still produce pollen. In the world of rhodies at least, plants that are sterile both ways are rare but they do exist. (most of the weird 'quasi bigeneric' ones, of course, like 'Broughtonii Aureum', but also 'Viscy', which is sad because it would be nice to hybridize with)

The Isoplexis*, I suspect, would be basically ungrowable here, which has been my experience with other Macaronesian flora I've tried in pots. (certainly Echiums, Aeoniums although I'm trying another one Annie's described as 'heat tolerant', and Canarina. The prior couple Aeoniums I tried will last for a year or two or three...longer than damn Echiums anyhow...but a long wet humid spell eventually makes them rot. Actually my memory banks just fired up: Geranium palmatum, from The Last Days of Heronswood (Whit Stillman's next film? LOL) lasted a whole summer, too, and didn't seem very bothered by humidity. That would have been in 1999 or so. But there was no way it was going to be winter hardy! I was such an optimistic young grasshopper back then lol. It was probably listed as zn 8 because I do think it winters sometimes in the PNW, but I wasn't in zone 8!

* or should I say, the Digitalis formerly known as Isoplexis.

Oh wow, to add to the confusion, I realize I actually bought one hybridized in the good ole US of A and not the UK as with the prior Digitalis X Isoplexis hybrids: https://patents.justia.com/patent/PP32975

I saw it in Almost Eden's catalog - wasn't even shopping for it - and thought, "hell, that might be useful for my digitalis hybridization project". I'm essentially trying to recreate something like 'Spice Island' I kept yammering on about in this thread, albeit bred on the east coast of the US so even more accepting of our murky summers. There were already a few other things I was going to order from them.

Update, actually a # of these were crossed in the US. Not the subject of this thread tho: https://patents.justia.com/patent/PP25442

Digiplexis Illumination flame:

I am on my 2nd one in 2 years, and so far they are acting like biennials. I am zone 9B/10A. Planted 1st one early July 2020 mostly sun/pt shade, did not bloom until early May 2021, only one spike. Thought maybe I planted it too late, so this year bought a bit earlier (early May) and put in pot. It is behaving just like the one last year. Clumping well, starting to get taller so I can tell there are stem-starts in there (2 this time), but no actual flower stems yet (August 16)! It is getting those brownish leaves the way biennial foxgloves get the first year (in my experience) that need to be cut back for new growth. Last year's had no trouble over-wintering here - we get cool winters but it doesn't typically freeze (Bay Area California).

The 1st one is still in the ground and at the moment acting like a digitalis in that it still has some leaves after I cut the finished stem back. Waiting to see if it lives through the winter again.

I'm disappointed not be getting the blooms I hear about! The one stem I got I did like the coloring.

I loved them, however, I only got 2 years out of them. Bloomed fantastically. Planted in Bonsall Southern California.