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Recently, we were in Williamsburg to attend a graduation at the College of William and Mary. We made a weekend of this and took the opportunity to revisit Colonial Williamsburg, which we had not been to in quite a number of years. The colonial gardens are always one of the more interesting stops on your self-guided tour, and this year was no different with the beautiful foxgloves in their full glory. These images are all of the Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) – none of the hybrids that are common today were around in the 18th century so have no place in the colonial gardens of Williamsburg.
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The common foxglove is a quite short lived but frost hardy perennial. In the first year, this plant forms a tight rosette of simple, coarse leaves with prominent veins for a nearly quilted look in its first year. The clump remains low and close to the ground. It is in the early summer of its second year that the plant comes into its full glory. At this time the main attraction of its colorful spike of blooms which can grow to a height of 3- to 5-feet tall appear. The flowers come in purple, pink, rosy magenta, white or pale yellow, all with contrasting speckled throats. All of the colors on display in the gardens during our visit. I managed to capture images of all the colors excepting the yellow, for which I was not quite enough of a contortionist to enable me to get into position for a shot.
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I will have some more images from Colonial Williamsburg and some of the other historic towns we stopped at on the way there later this summer.
Twitter: ljsaltiel
| May 29, 2013
Beautiful shots Mark. I like the color variations.
Twitter: twitter (username)
| May 29, 2013
Many thanks, Len. The colors were quite spectacular in the morning light.
Twitter: JimiJones
| May 29, 2013
Very pretty shots of these colorful flowers, Mark. Love the detail and DoF.
Twitter: twitter (username)
| May 29, 2013
Many thanks, Jimi.