Bill, Penstemon cyananthus is a difficult plant to propagate, but it has the most beautiful dark blue flowers I've seen in any flower.

Penstemon angustifolius looks fluorescent. It's a sky blue tinged with lavender. Hard to describe. If I ever get sophisticated enough to learn how to post pictures, I'll have to show theses two because they are amazing.

You mention another one of my favorite penstemons. I have three "husker reds" as well. It blooms for a long time and even out of bloom, the red foliage is really nice. It isn't as adaptable to Utah's hot dry weather as some of the penstemons native to the area, but placed in full sun with regular water, husker red is a favorite as well.

Another favorite, mainly because it is my best hummingbird plant, is penstemon rostriflorus. Red tubular flowers on this plant are the first plant the hummers go to.

I first discovered penstemons on a hike in Glacier National Park three years ago and really liked them. If I remember correctly, they were alpine penstemons (Mountain Beardtongue). I thought they were alpine wild flowers, and had not given a thought as to growing them. Then, last summer, I visited Le Jardin des Plantes in Paris and just fell in love with two varieties they had:

• Penstemon Hartwegii "Tubular Bells" --the "Rose" or "pink lips" (can't remember of the exact name) was outstanding with blue delphiniums and pink bellis perennis
• "Penstemon Barbatus": 'Cambridge'

I am trying to grow them this season. I really hope they make it here. I have never seen them in my area, so maybe, I am not very realistic.

I had to check the two you mentioned, Dswan, and I have to admit that the wasatch is stunning!! I could not find any pictures for the pagoda.

Bill, the "husker red" is also quite attractive. I know so little about penstemons, and they are such a huge family.... I am looking forward to reading more replies to this excellent thread!!

Anne-Marie
NY-zone 5

A great group of plants! I don't understand why 'Husker Red' seems to be one of the few that is widely available, when there are so many that are extremely ornamental and hardy. My current favorite is a hybrid - Penstemon 'Prairie Fire', stems to 3 1/2 feet tall with smallish, narrow red blooms. 'Petite Bouquet' is stunning. P. mexicali 'Red Rocks' was beautiful with shiny leaves, but died out after a snowless winter. Even the rather plainer ones (e.g. P. confertus)have their charms. Have not yet run across the various blue-flowered species here (except in the wild), but they're on my "must-get" list! Lori

Love penstemons too and as a bonus they grow wild in my yard here in colorado. My favorites? well, I gotta stick with the natives and think that "Husker Red" is highly overrated and can't hold a candle to any of the following that I really like, P. barbados, p. angustifolious, P. whippleanus (dull maroon but throws white flowers also), P. versicolor (a deep blue-just beautiful), P. virens (deep blue/purple), and P. auriberbis (light violet, very small and hairy).

Rosa, I'm glad to hear you like Penstemon whippleanus. I've got four of these ready to go outside when the weather warms up.

I'm also looking forward to seeing P. pseudospectabilis, palmeri, secundiflorus and eatonii bloom for the first time. I planted them last year and they should bloom this year.

This year, my new experiments are P. griffinii, ramosus, lentus, parryi, clutei, procerus and grandiflorus. I also got one more P. cyananthus ready to go out. I've had trouble getting them to germinate. Each year, I get one more. They are an awesome dark blue color and I wish they were easier to grow.

As someone said, "to know the genus you have to grow it." Any thoughts on sources for seed? I would imagine some of the above mentioned are hard to find.

Bill:

Western Native Seed and Plants of the Southwest are good sources. Some really rare species can be found from Southwestern Native Seeds. They are expensive and don't give you alot of seeds for the money, but their selection is quite amazing. Western Native Seed gives you the most seeds for the money.

Rosa:

I haven't seen or heard of Penstemon versicolor. Where do you get seeds for this plant?

Unfortunately I can't grow P. versicolor-I work in the area where it grows here in colorado (limited range on caliche soils). I just love finding this plant every year when I'm out working!
You will also like P. secundiflorus-it grows like weeds here in the mtns where I am. It should do well for you.

Have ordered P. speciosus, P. virern, P. griffini with Western Native Seed. Plus Sedum lanceolatum. This genus is new to me, but I am always looking for something different for my informal garden.

Bill: You'll want to cold stratify virens and speciosus quite a bit. I have been unsuccessful in germinating speciosus but succeeded with virens by planting it outside in pots.

Griffinii germinates readily.

I like blues. Many Penstemon species can be found in true blue. Some of my favorites are
heterophyllus
spectabilis
ovatus
speciosus

Most are not difficult to germinate. Just exacting. Some of the best need 3 to 4 months of cold stratification under 40F while in good light. I germinated probably 100 species using this method. At UCDavis, I put them in a refrigerated chamber with articial lighting. At home you can just sow in fall and wait for spring for germination. Both speciosus and cynanthus should have at least 3 months cold statification.

BTW
I have hundreds of species of seeds but no room to plant if anyone has woodland plants to trade for seeds. I trade 2 pkts seeds per plant.
Amanda

Last year at the cottage farmers market a lady was selling some of her perennials. She had a penstemon and was not sure of the name but because I like surprises I took it. This late spring it flowered. I am in love again. It was the bluest flower I have ever seen. It drew me to it with such power. I will divide it soon so I can put more around the garden. I also have Huskers Red and like it alot too.

Dswan
How are your penstemons faring this year? Poor, poor showing here due to the lack of precip (especially this spring). Just now starting to get in the summer afternoon storm track.

My showing has depended on the species. I had several that I planted last year that I hadn't seen bloom before that have done especially well. Penstemons palmeri, pseudospectabilis, eatonii, and secundiflorus did pretty well. The drought here in Utah seemed to affect most of the blue flowered penstemons the most, for example, penstemon cyananthus, virens, rydberghi and angustifolius, though blooming, did so for a shorter period of time than last year and the blooms of angustifolius and rydberghi were not as impressive as they've been in the past.

I tried penstemon parryi this year and I was surprised that it bloomed from seed the first year. Nice pink flowers and it appears to be quite drought tolerant. We'll have to see how cold tolerant it is this winter.

As a rule of thumb, my drought tolerant penstemons have done really well, the more mountainous species have struggled somewhat, which is kind of what I expected. I don't know about what temperatures you are facing in Colorado, but in Utah, we're consistently about 8-10 degrees above normal. Not good after a dry winter.

The penstemon secundiflorus in my yard is about peaked but weak showing and on many plants the infloresence is 1/2 size of normal (probably could have given them some extra water but it's the wild side of the yard so I generally don't bother). However, P. barbados is bloomin' it's fool head off. No blooms on P. virens at all in the yard and little to speak of in the surrounding area. The P. whippleanus did bloom but not for long even with extra water-I think it was just too hot, for too long, early on-even at 8500'.
In SW colorado many of the penstemons (angustifolious in particular) were eaten to the nubbins as soon as they started to bolt. Other than bindwed there was just no other forage to be had. P. auriberbis didn't even make a show.
I'll have to try P. parryi-bloomed this year did it? When did you start your seed for this one? Any idea how long any of the penstemons will keep without serious loss of viability?
We are about the same as your area temp wise, coupled with the drought I'm surprised that anything is actually growing. Many of the early natives and most early TE&S species here didn't make a show at all. No orchids this year.
Hoping for rain......

Rosa, I started Penstemon parryi in January and it was outgrowing it's pots by April. It was a very fast grower and it appears to be quite heat tolerant.

My showing of P. angustifolius was my biggest disappointment. It was just too dry and the flowers though pretty, were a far sight short of last year's display. Penstemon palmeri was my best producer of flowers this year among the penstemons. Penstemon strictus did well also and Penstemon barbatus and cardinalis did about normal.

I'm having some trouble with Penstemon griffinnii. I planted it this year and it germinated readily, but it has struggled once transplanted. I am experimenting with this one and I have no idea what it likes, but I'm strongly suspecting it is a mountain penstemon because it is really struggling in the hot drier areas of my yard.

I would like to add alpinus, cynanthus and any blues in the Habroanthus section.

for sandy, mesic areas:
Penstemon ambiguous
nurseries find this difficult to grow in pots.
use the butterfly method: several seedlings per 1gal. container in a 50/50 sharp sand/perlite medium. (Sensitive to fertilizers). ~2mo. to root-out with 3-4 hrs. of morning sun. Do not separate out. Use a posthole digger...Time the outplanting before hot weather sets in Req.~20" annual precipitation.Once a month winter irrigation under drought conditions.

Correction:P.ambiguous annual prec. requirements:
approximately 12-15inches (timely)and dependent on sand texture. (I have studied this species in its native mesic habitat in NM ).no strat.required for this species. Germination enhanced using 200ppm Ga3/ 24hr soak then rinse seed to prevent etiolation prior to sowing.

Please tell me that I can grow penstemons in zone 4....Is it possible?

Yes, you sure can. I grow the following in (Canadian) zone 3:
P. albidus, confertus, digitalis 'Husker Red', hallii (in alpine trough), mexicali 'Red Rocks' (it is hardy here, or hardy enough at least), barbatus coccineus (?) 'Prairie Fire', fruticosus 'Purple Haze', gracilis, lyallii, menzeisii, nitidus, sp. "Petite Bouquet", 'Prairie Dusk'.
A lot of these are native plants; some are garden varieties, and no doubt, there are other hardy species that I just haven't run into yet.

Well, I may have revised my favorite to P. nitidus; here they are from a few weeks ago, almost done blooming now:

That Penstemon nitidus is gorgeous! It is rare for me to have zone envy for plants north of me. Beautiful picture!

I've had 'Huskers Red' for a few years now; it's been moved around quite a bit, and just recently divided. I ordered P. strictus Rocky Mountain last year, and it bloomed this year. I fell in love. I had to have P. mexicale x. 'Red Rocks', so I ordered it this year along with P. barbatus 'Navigator Mix' and P. heterophyllus 'Electric Blue'. Now I'm wishing I had ordered 'Elfin Pink' as well. There's always next year ;)

I have 'Huskers Red and it is spreading very nicely for me. Started out with only two plants and it has filled the corner garden and is spreading along the house. I also find "babies" in places I never expect to see them. I am very happy with this variety.

Purchased pink, purple, and red @ Shipshewana. Any hints about their care? Will they winter in zone 4?

I bought 2 Penstemon's from home depot. I think they are called 'Sour Grapes". One has blue flowers and lots of buds, but they don't open up. I water daily and fertilized it once this past month. The other one, did nothing and the top was in bad shape. So i cut all down to the healthy part 2 months ago, and it just stays there, healthy green but nothing else. No buds at all. What am i doing wrong? It gets watered daily, because the top of container looks dry, and it gets at least 3 to 4 hours of sun on my patio.

penstemons tend not to like too much water. Many also prefer well-draining soil. One of the good things about penstemons is that you can grow them in places where water is scarce and expensive and get away with it, particularly the more xeric species such as penstemons palmeri, pseudospectabilis, clutei, cardinalis and others.

hi all lovers of penstémons!
my favorite is penstémon kunthii liliput and garnet. and i like, for i have seen photos, penstémon nitidus (my dream) but i dont know where to buy him in france....
thanks dswan for this beautiful learning post!
sorry, my english is very bad....
good pleasure to read you !
jocelyne

Here is a link that might be useful: my garden photos

I only recently discovered the beauty of penstemons. My favourites at the moment are Mesa and Mensarum - both of the blue-purple shade, with Mesa actually starting off pinkish in earky morning and ending up blue in extreme heat. I have been looking for Ovatus but not sure if zone 5 is compatible ( Ontario, Canada)

Where did you find your Penstemon Wasatch? I have been looking for my blue garden for P. Nitidus and Wasatch or blue springs. I would like to find seeds if I can. Thanks
Janet