Erroneously, it is frequently explained that it is derived from Folk's glove, that the bell like flower served as gloves for the little folk or fairies. This always troubled me as a child, all the fairies I knew, real or imagined were far too small to use the foxglove flowers as mittens. The medicinal qualities of the foxglove leaves were discovered in England by a Dr. William Withering in 1775 when he observed that a local herbal tea was successful in curing dropsy. As well as being a diuretic, it also strengthens and regulates the heartbeat. Digitalis is still one of the most important heart medicines and has not been synthesized but is made from the leaves of foxgloves specially grown to regulate the amount of digitalis in the plant.
Digitalis lantana is the species used for the commercial use and is grown in south eastern Europe.
It is a zone 7 plant and probably not reliably hardy in Canada. However, other species are hardy and foxgloves make a beautiful addition to our gardens. The tall, pink spires are elegant in the flower border or naturalized on the edge of the woodland. All will grow in sun or part shade, and need very good drainage, a light soil and cool root run. If they are really happy with their conditions they will self seed freely and sometimes even make extra rosettes at the base and act as a perennial for a year or two.