Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Beautiful Foxgloves but Handle with Care
I love seeing Foxgloves growing wild on country roads and I often stop by for a photo.
Today, I went looking for some around town and found them near a transmission station where land had been recently cleared. They seem to spring up where there’s plenty of sunshine, surrounded by other wild plants, complementary in yellow.
Years ago, I captured this migrating Rufous Hummingbird feeding on a Foxglove in the Quinault Rainforest. At the time, I thought it was wonderful, now I’m not so sure.
Foxglove is also called Digitalis and used in heart medications of the same name. It’s toxic to humans, and other mammals and birds and should be handled with care (or not at all.) While I found mixed information online, most reputable sources discouraged planting them in your garden if you have hummingbirds around. The jury was out on whether the plant was harmful to bees.
Now I look on this picture with a bit of sadness, hoping the hummingbird was unharmed.
Sharing with #The Flower Hour.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Foxglove is a beautiful flower, Susanne! Hopefully the pretty little hummer didn’t ingest enough to harm it. The flowers are quite gorgeous in their purple-ness!
They are indeed beautiful and I love how they spring up along old logging roads. Hopefully the critters and birds know they’re toxic and tread (or feed) lightly!
Gorgeous!
Thank you!
Oh, dear, this is news to me. I need to reassess my growing of foxglove!
Kind of a bummer, isn’t it? I always knew it was used in a prescription heart medication, but I didn’t understand how toxic it can be to animals. Do your own research but most articles I found, cautioned against it.
Lovely captures of the flowers and hummingbird. Somehow I believe it will know to tread lightly.
Bernie