Glorious Foxglove ...

... yes, that's "foxglove" in the singular. My gardening thumb is definitely not a dark, rich green, but it's sort of a pale, watery sort of green color.  Plants don't actually die in my presence but they generally don't thrive very well.  I read up on the different sorts of potting compost, fertilizers, sun or shade, etc. but somehow it just doesn't come together like it should.  I've planted tomatoes in pots and spent the summer moving them around the deck so that they get the maximum amount of Pacific North West sun each year, yet they still manage to look underfed, and provide me with about eight wonderful tasting tomatoes, but that's about it.  And that's exactly 8, not eight pounds.  Meanwhile, I see other people with 6 foot tomato plants running rampant and producing pounds of spectacular fuits.  So to the saga of the foxglove...

I love these plants.  They remind me of an English garden full of lupins, foxgloves and hollyhocks and a few years ago I bought one foxglove plant and put it in a pot with the requisite soil, fertilizer, etc.  Each year it's grown, flowered and then seeded itself in the pot so the next year I get another plant.  Last year, one of the seeds must have dropped by the path and this year we have this incredible, glorious, all-it-should-be foxglove.  I can't understand why, because there's a lot of concrete left in the grass by the path as it's fairly new.  Now look at this ....

Of course, this is the one I planted in the pot and looked after, weeded, fed, and moved around in the sun.  Yes, it's great to have the flowers but look at it.  The two stalks look so puny next to their wild cousin on the path.  What did I do wrong?  I think next year my whole gardening strategy will be one of ignoring everything.  Heck, it works for me!!  Think of the time, effort and money I'll save.