Good morning and happy Fourth of July. I hope you have your flags out and are planning a great day with family and friends. It is such a joy that we live in a country where we can watch a parade, eat strawberry shortcake on the village green and wave the American flag, while complaining about our government leaders — and we don’t get dragged off to jail. I think we don’t realize sometimes how amazing that is in today’s world.

I hope your gardens are doing well. We seem to be getting the weather for them with nice sunny days and rain here and there to keep them green and happy. The early spring is at work again, and many questions sent to me by readers over the past two weeks have had to do with foxgloves. Yes, they are early, like so many other plants.

I guess many of us assume that because we have gardened for awhile everyone knows what we do. Well, that isn’t the case, so today we are going to discuss these wonderful plants from their beginnings.

The Latin name for foxglove is digitalis and, yes, it is where the heart medicine originally came from. Therefore, don’t eat them! Don’t let the dog or the kids eat them either. Children find them interesting because of the bell-shaped blossoms that cover the lance-shaped bloom.

All parts of the plant will cause severe pain if eaten, and foliage contact with the skin may cause discomfort. Most of the gardeners I know do not react to the foliage, but it is one of the warnings.

I have shared stories of my little dog Gizzy who made a daily habit of walking my gardens and literally smelling the flowers. He would push his nose right into them and just stand there for a bit and then go on to the next one. He never did that with the foxgloves so, perhaps, dogs really do have sharp senses.

Many folks think that because these glorious plants are happy in woodland areas and just seem to “pop up” places, they must be native plants. They are not. They originally came from Europe, but have adapted very well. Many of them also heavily reseed, so they do just “pop up” in unexpected places.

The most common question about foxgloves I get is, “Where did they go?” Most are true biennials, which means they grow foliage in their first year and bloom in the second, and that ends their life cycle.

However, since they reseed from the blossoms, you usually get more plants that continue to grow. If you had only one or two, instead of many, sometimes they just disappear. A few true perennial foxgloves have been hybridized and make wonderful garden additions.

I have a yellow perennial foxglove that has been expanding, seeding and blooming for about seven years now. It is always there each spring in the same place and it has given me about three other clumps of varying sizes. Last spring, I purchased what I was told was a pink perennial foxglove. It grew last year and is blooming wonderfully this year, but we will see what occurs next spring. It appears to be more of a traditional biennial plant to me judging by its bloom and leaves, but next spring will tell the story.

Foxgloves are beautiful in partly shady gardens or in woodland settings. In woodland settings, they can reseed and grow and create a lovely sight. In the garden, the seeding out can become a problem simply because they will come up in places other than where the original plant grew. You can transplant them, but that presupposes you will recognize the seedling the following spring and not pull it, thinking it’s a weed. One of those gardening conundrums.

Foxgloves make nice cut flowers and will grow in most all conditions, except extreme wet or dry. They appreciate good loamy soil and need shade from afternoon sun. Bugs don’t seem to like them and that would put us back to the digitalis thing and animals knowing stuff we don’t.

Summer is truly here as is evidenced by the wonderful crop of strawberries, but, like everything else, they came early. Thus, they will be gone early. So if you haven’t gotten some and made that pie or batch of jam, time is running out. Before you know it, the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries will appear.

If you fed your roses early in the spring, you might want to check the calendar because they will need it again. Most of the rose fertilizers are good for two months, and you don’t want to feed them much past now because they need to start going dormant in late August. Keep on top of the weeds if you can find the time and don’t forget to cut some of those beautiful flowers for the kitchen table.

Watch for Japanese beetles because if they are like everything else and come early, they should be appearing to eat your flowers any day now. Hand pick them into soapy water early in the morning or late in the evening when they are easiest to execute. Isn’t execute a good word? A friend of mine sent me an e-mail after my bug squishing column and used that word. I told her I was going use it instead of squishing all the time.

Until next time, I hope you have a great day filled with friends and family, good food, lots of fun and laughter and a few moments of quiet appreciation for the fact you live in the United States of America.

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her dog and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.

AUBURN — On Tuesday, July 13, Judy Paolini, Maine author of “The Inspired Garden: Twenty-Four Artists Share Their Vision,” will give an illustrated presentation at the Auburn Public Library.

Five years in the making, the book features the private gardens of visual artists from around New England.

Published by Down East Books and illustrated with photographs by Nance Trueworthy, “The Inspired Garden” explores how the artists’ unique talents and styles shape the gardens they create at their homes.

The brown bag lunch program is at noon, free of charge. Attendees may bring a bagged lunch if they wish or order out at the Library Café; drinks and dessert will be provided. For more information, call the APL’s reference desk at 333-6640 extension 4. The library is at 49 Spring St.

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