Is it possible that the seedlings which are going to flower this year actually germinated towards the end of last year, like in September or October,and you didn't notice?

Hi Bamboo. The one that I'm saying is this year's germination is under my washing line and I've been meaning to transplant it ( not the best place for a tall plant)
but then I noticed that it is producing a spike. No i'm sure it hasn't been there since last autumn and it's actually quite small. I cannot align my iphone with my chromebook so am unable to post pics. Apparently it's difficult to do and I'm not all that savvy.

Getting GoY on your iPhone is probably your best bet Merlin if you want to post photos. You get the tiny screen posting problems but it's probably easier than trying to get apple to work with Google?

There are annual foxgloves, and perennial ones, so maybe you've got one or other of those - they don't look quite like the more common Digitalis purpurea, the biennial that seeds itself though. More info in the link below

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/home-garden/gardening/plants/woodlanders/how-to-grow-foxgloves

Thanks Darren. I tend not to have websites on my phone but I'll make an exception and I must say, I didn't think of it until you suggested it.
Good link Bamboo. Thanks.