Foxglove

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Foxglove Digitalis is a biennial plant that is a member of the figwart family, also known as Bee Catchers, Witches Glove, Fairy Caps, Fairy Fingers and Pop-ladders. Native to southern Europe and Asia. They are highly prized in North American gardens for their tall spikes of beautiful, bell-like flowers in pink, blue, mauve, white and yellow with dark spots inside the lip. Foxgloves flower from May to August and then seed prolifically, each plant producing a staggering one to two million seeds, and then it dies. The reason for such a vast number of seeds is to compensate for the large amounts that will be eaten by various creatures.  If you cut off the flower stems before they seed then the plant will last a few more years. It is quite a long-lived plant when in flower, although each flower only lasts for six days. Foxglove will grow in virtually any condition making this an ideal plant for native areas, shade and drought tolerant areas.

There are many folklore tales on foxglove mainly because it has been long associated with magical beings, such as fairies and the herb itself can both kill and heal humans.
The plants are also helpful in preserving other species of cut flowers with which they may be arranged in a vase or in stimulating the growth and endurance of garden root vegetables, especially potatoes, with which they may be planted.

All parts of foxglove are toxic; it has a use in modern medicine for heart conditions, being the plant from which digitalin is extracted for treating heart disease.  Sap, flowers, seeds, and leaves of foxgloves are very poisonous when consumed by humans or pets. The greatest concentration of the toxin occurs in vigorous growth shoots.
*Use caution when growing foxglove*
I have several foxglove (some growing wild) that co-exist with my pets and children, my children have grown up knowing not to touch a plant without asking.. my pets also know their boundaries, any plants that may be toxic are planted in areas that have some sort or barrier. There is no need to panic if foxglove is growing in your yard, this plant is widely grown all over the world.