In article , Nell
writes
On a large property I have about a dozen foxglove plants at the moment,
all with dark purple flowers and they are beautiful and charming. They
popped up in various places in the early spring along with the weeds and
I plucked many out recognising them immediately, but I left those that
had appeared in attractive or bare positions.

This weekend the previous owner revisited and warned that if I don't
pull this dozen out immediately, the whole property will be covered with
them next year. He says that he spent years trying to get rid of them.
How true is it that they will become a frightful nuisance?

As I drive along country roads and lanes I see a few here and there,
never more than a dozen every half mile or so. If it were true that
they can run riot, I can't see why the verges aren't full of them.

As far as I can see, their preferred habitat is newly cleared woodland.
In other words, they like not-total shade, and fairly clear ground. They
don't compete well with other plants, and that is why the verges aren't
full of them.

In a garden, they may have clear ground and partial shade, and so it is
possible to get a bloom of them - we had one glorious year when we were
setting up our front garden and had about a hundred of them - a
wonderful sight. Now we have settled to an equilibrium - I deadhead the
purple ones, keep the white and other coloured ones, pull up the
seedlings where I don't want them, and in this way always have about a
dozen scattered around in various colours.

So, from your point of view, enjoy them, take off the main spike before
the seeds are ripe, similarly all the side spikes when they follow on,
and learn to identify the seedlings, and you should have no problem.
They are certainly well down in the nuisance stakes, even at their most
prolific.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"