6 Best Foxglove Types For Attracting Bumblebees Old Gardeners Prefer

You can hear a foxglove patch before you see it. That low, constant hum of bumblebees, bumping from one bell-shaped flower to the next, is the sound of a healthy garden at work. Choosing the right foxglove isn’t just about color; it’s about selecting a variety that makes this vital partnership as effective as possible.

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The Classic Partnership: Foxgloves & Bumblebees

The connection between a foxglove and a bumblebee is no accident. The flower’s deep, tubular shape is perfectly evolved for large, fuzzy pollinators to crawl inside, brushing against the pollen-laden anthers on their way to the nectar. It’s a custom-fit design.

Those little spots inside the flower aren’t just for show. They are nectar guides, essentially a landing strip pointing the bee directly to its reward. This efficient system ensures pollination happens, benefiting both plant and insect.

The problem is, not all modern foxgloves keep this elegant design. Some highly hybridized varieties with double flowers or overly frilly petals can block a bee’s entry. For attracting pollinators, simpler is almost always better.

Digitalis purpurea: The Classic Wild Foxglove

When in doubt, start with the original. Digitalis purpurea is the common wild foxglove, with its iconic spires of purple-pink, spotted bells arranged on one side of the stem. This is the blueprint for a bee-friendly flower.

It’s a biennial, a crucial fact many gardeners miss. In its first year, it forms a low rosette of leaves, gathering energy. The second year, it sends up that magnificent flower stalk, sets seed, and then dies. Understanding this cycle is key to keeping them in your garden year after year.

Because it self-seeds so readily, D. purpurea is fantastic for naturalizing in a woodland edge or the back of a border. The tradeoff is that you have to be willing to let it wander a bit. If you want perfectly ordered rows, this might not be the plant for you.

‘Alba’: A Pure White Beacon for Bumblebees

‘Alba’ is simply a white-flowering form of the classic Digitalis purpurea. It has the same perfect structure, the same growth habit, and the same appeal to bumblebees. The only difference is the color.

That pure white, however, serves a purpose beyond aesthetics. White flowers are highly visible to pollinators, especially in the low light of dawn and dusk when bee activity can be high. A stand of ‘Alba’ acts like a beacon in the garden, drawing them in from a distance.

Use ‘Alba’ to create contrast and light in shadier parts of the garden. Its clean spires break up blocks of color and provide a sense of elegance. It’s just as tough and reliable as its purple cousin.

‘Sutton’s Apricot’: A Soft-Hued Bee Favorite

For those who prefer a softer palette, ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ is an excellent choice. This cultivar produces beautiful spires of pale, apricot-pink flowers, often with delicate interior spotting. It blends wonderfully into cottage garden schemes.

The important thing is that despite the unique color, the flower shape remains simple and open. Bumblebees can access the nectar and pollen just as easily as they can in the wild form. It’s a perfect example of a cultivated variety that hasn’t sacrificed its ecological function for looks.

Like other D. purpurea types, it’s a biennial that will self-seed if the spent flower stalks are left in place. This allows you to enjoy its gentle color for years with minimal effort, once a colony is established.

‘Excelsior’ Hybrids: All-Around Access for Bees

The ‘Excelsior’ hybrids represent a significant structural improvement for pollinators. Unlike traditional foxgloves where flowers hang from one side of the stalk, ‘Excelsior’ flowers grow all the way around the stem, held horizontally.

This 360-degree arrangement is a game-changer for bees. It creates far more landing spots and allows multiple bees to forage on a single stalk at the same time without getting in each other’s way. The result is a more efficient feeding station and a much buzzier garden.

Available in a mix of colors—including cream, pink, and mauve—these hybrids provide a full, dense look. The tradeoff for this impressive display is that they may not self-seed as reliably as the straight species. You might need to sow new seeds every other year to ensure a continuous show.

Digitalis x mertonensis: A Perennial Favorite

If the biennial lifecycle feels like too much work, Digitalis x mertonensis is your answer. This hybrid is a short-lived perennial, meaning it will flower year after year from the same plant, typically for three to four seasons.

Its flowers are a distinctive crushed-strawberry or raspberry-rose color, and the bells are wide and inviting. Bumblebees absolutely love them. It combines the impressive stature of a foxglove with the convenience of a perennial.

The term "short-lived" is the key consideration here. Don’t expect it to last for a decade like a peony. But for those few years, you get a reliable, bee-friendly bloom without having to manage first-year leaf rosettes and second-year flower stalks.

Digitalis ferruginea: The Unique Rusty Foxglove

For something truly different, consider the Rusty Foxglove. This species produces tall, incredibly slender spires packed with small, thimble-shaped flowers in shades of honey, copper, and rust-brown. It provides a strong architectural element late in the season.

While the flowers are smaller than those of D. purpurea, they are a magnet for a wide range of bees, including smaller native species that might ignore the larger-flowered types. It’s an excellent choice for diversifying the pollinators in your garden.

This is a true, long-lived perennial that is surprisingly tough and drought-tolerant once established. It asks for very little and provides a unique, sophisticated look that extends the foxglove season well into the summer.

Biennial Care for Continuous Foxglove Blooms

The biggest hurdle for many gardeners growing biennial foxgloves is the "gap year" where nothing seems to be blooming. The solution is simple: you must have plants in both their first and second year of growth at all times.

To achieve this, you have to plant seeds for two years in a row.

• Year 1: Sow your first batch of seeds. They will grow into leafy rosettes.
• Year 2: Your first batch will flower. At the same time, sow a second batch of seeds, which will form their own rosettes.

From Year 3 onward, the cycle can become self-sustaining. The flowering plants from the previous year will drop seed (creating new rosettes), while the rosettes from the previous year will send up their flower stalks. This overlapping system ensures you have blooms every single spring.

This isn’t complicated, but it does require a little forethought. Once established, you can simply thin out the self-sown seedlings to where you want them, ensuring the two-stage cycle continues. It’s a small bit of management for a huge floral reward.

Ultimately, the best foxglove is one that fits your garden’s look while serving its crucial role in the ecosystem. By understanding the differences in form and lifecycle, you can create a garden that not only looks beautiful but hums with the sound of happy, well-fed bumblebees.