Oldham's Gold Woodland Foxglove. Great friend and plantsman Ozzie Johnson of Marietta, GA, introduced this plant after finding it on one of his collecting exploits to China. Thought to be a zone 9 plant, it has survived 0°F in the landscape in Raleigh, NC. It is in the Gesneriad family, meaning that it is a cousin to African Violets. Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery has seen it growing on vertical cliffs in Taiwan. It has large fuzzy leaves and in the fall it produces "Fox Glove-like" trumpet flowers of bright golden yellow with a bronze-red throat on 1-2 foot spikes. Give adequate moisture on well drained humus rich soil in the shade. It roots easily, but it has also re-seeded prolifically in our propagation house. Seedlings will not survive outside during the winter, so pot them and over-winter them inside for their first winter. Then plant them outside in the spring so that they may become well established by the following fall. A real gem for the shade garden!
Zones 7b-10
