This Lovely White Digitalis........

.......has popped up in the gravel path near my chair in one of the few shady spots in the garden - and where I have been enjoying my coffee this morning.

I have never had a white one before so I think it must be a present from a passing bird!

I shall save some seed as I love white flowers - especially just before dusk when white shows up so beautifully.

Obviously my BOUI have to about Foxgloves!!

1) One of the earliest mentions of the foxglove can be found in a list of flora complied during the time of Edward III. (King of England, 1327-1377.) As for where the foxglove got its name, there are a few different ideas. Many believe that it is a corruption of “folks’ glove,” as “folks” are what our fourteenth century European ancestors called the fairies. At the time, belief in fairies was common, and so ascribing certain fairy attributes to different flora and fauna was not unusual.

2) Back in 1554, Culpepper said that "foxglove was one of the best remedies for a scabby head."

3) Legend has it that Van Gogh took digitalis to treat his epilepsy. Art historians have theorized that he might have overdone it a bit, because a possible outcome of digitalis poisoning is xanthopsia, which, is “A form of chromatopsia, a visual abnormality in which objects look as though they have been overpainted with an unnatural colour. In xanthopsia, that colour is yellow.”

4) One story has it that fairies secrete themselves inside the flowers, and make a snapping sound when children, holding one end of the flower bell, suddenly strike the other end on their hand to hear the clap of fairy thunder, with which the disturbed and indignant fairy makes her escape from her retreat.

5) The small dark dots inside the bells of the foxglove were believed to be where the fairies had pressed their fingers to leave a warning regarding the toxicity of the plant.

6) The Foxglove was used for working magic, for protection, and communicating with fairies, elves, and woodland spirits. It had many names; lion's mouth, fairy caps, folk's glove, and witches thimbles. In France, it is known as gant de notre dame, or our lady's glove.

Another VERY warm day - about 75 Deg.F. - clouds are building up - rain to come? - there was some in the night but I didn't hear it.

I seem to be all behind today - by 12 noon I had had 3 lots of visitors - the coffee, sugar, milk and biscuits have taken a beating! - so there is a lot to catch up on this afternoon.

Wishing you a sunny Sunday.