Digitalis purpurea has a native range that spans across several countries in Western Europe and North Africa.

[4] In Western Europe, it is native to Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

[5] Digitalis purpurea has been introduced extensively throughout Europe, including Austria, the Baltic States, Belarus, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Réunion, and Ukraine.

In North America, it has been introduced into more than twenty states of the United States: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

In Canada, it has colonized multiple provinces, including British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Québec.

[18] Digitalis purpurea grows in acidic soils, in partial sunlight to deep shade, in a range of habitats, including open woods, woodland clearings, moorland and heath margins, sea-cliffs, rocky mountain slopes and hedge banks.

[19][20] It is commonly found and readily colonises sites where the ground has been disturbed, such as recently cleared woodland, or where the vegetation has been burnt.

[21] It also colonises areas of land that have been disturbed by clear-felling and by construction projects, being among the first wildflowers to reappear, often in large quantities.

[22] Foxgloves are eurytopic plants, as their seeds germinate when exposed to light; for this reason, they are generally absent from shaded areas, such as within woodlands.

It then spins a silken web over the mouth of the flower, sealing it, and then proceeds to feed on the stamens and developing seeds.

This combination leads to four phenotypes: The plant is a popular ornamental, providing height and colour in late spring and early summer.

Seeds are frequently sold as a mixture (e.g. Excelsior hybrids, in shades of white, pink and purple).

[29] The following selections have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: Digitalis × mertonensis (the strawberry foxglove)[42] Due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals and can be fatal if ingested.

However, digitoxin, digoxin and several other cardiac glycosides, such as ouabain, have narrow therapeutic windows (i.e., because of their steep dose-response curves, minute increases in the dosage of these drugs can make the difference between an ineffective dose and a fatal one).

Symptoms of Digitalis poisoning include a low pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, and uncoordinated contractions of different parts of the heart, leading to cardiac arrest and finally death.