Wow, Zach! I'm surprised! When I first started giving those seedlings away I was telling people that it could be the "red" one I got along the road near Boulder, Utah, OR it could be a pink one I had growing nearby that I had started from "hybrid" seeds I had gotten from somebody so the flowers weren't as big as the original hybrid, OR it could conceivably be my P. strictus--but I didn't see how any strictus seed could have gotten from where mine is to where the seedlings came up! And, I have never had P. strictus plants come up from seed anywhere else--even right by my plant!

I know for sure some of the seedlings in that area are the "red" one (I've seen a couple of them bloom) that I'm pretty sure is P. eatonii--and that's what Kelly thought it was one time when he was here too--so I'm absolutely blown away that the plant you got was a P. strictus Absolutely blown away! Amazed!!! (But the fact that it's strictus does help explain why it got so big so fast this spring!)

I think there are a few more seedlings coming up this year--haven't had much time to look a lot since I got home, and if you want to try again for "one of the red ones," next time I dig up a seedling I'll hang onto it for you at a swap! Having you compare "what I have" to your "known" P. eatonii would certainly help to "prove" what I actually have!

I could also give you a few of the seeds I collected in Utah (which are several years old now) if you're into "trying" to start things from seed, but would need to warn you that it took me a couple years to get one to germinate! I finally succeeded by winter sowing it!

About Penstemon! The Penstemon davidsonii v. menziesii 'Microphyllus' that I got at Laporte Nursery this spring (2" pot!) is blooming a little bit, and, assuming I don't overwater it and it survives, I think it's gonna be a pretty cool Penstemon! It only gets a couple inches tall, and seems to be semi-woody! Not like any other Penstemon I've ever seen! Next year will be interesting!

Thanks for the "update!" Let me know if you'd like to try another seedling when I have one to give away!

Skybird

P.S. My strictus is in full bloom right now too!

No matter, I do love the strictus (actually, I love ALL penstemons...I may have a problem...)

Although, I must say, I am somewhat surprised that this one is doing so well in my hot, dry, sandy "xeric" bed. These are foothills/montane plants! As in cooler, wetter mountains! But, it's loving where it's at! My other strictus is in a wetter, cooler (shadier) spot, and its quite a bit shorter and the flower buds on it are barely showing any color, it will be another couple-few weeks before it blooms.

I am also surprised that yours doesn't reseed! P. strictus is one of the easiest ones to germinate in my experience.

You know me and this genus, if you need a good home for some babies, I've got one right here for them. I planted another red one this year, a P. rostriflorius. It is a mid-late summer bloomer, and its hanging out with some grass sage (Salvia reptans)which has blue flowers and blooms at about the same time. The red and blue I think will look nice together, though, some of the southwestern salvias I waiver on my "trust" of their hardiness, though my Mojave sage (Salvia pachyphylla) survived the winter just fine. (Both the S.r. and the S.p. carry the plant select banner, so I have SOME trust that they will do okay).

Anyways.... Another reason I brought up the P. rostriflorius because it MAY be the one you have, at least the bloom time and the range (I think...map attached) are a match. As I said, eatonii is a well documented spring flowering penstemon. Mine is nearly done with the blooming now.

The P. davidsonii sounds like a cool one...oh shoot there I go again. If I could I would have a whole garden dedicated to these things, not sure how that would look... My P. linaroides v. coloradoensis is somewhat woody, too, and just now coming into it's full glory as well.

Oh and heres that map of P. rostriflorius range from the USDA.

Zach, when I first collected the seed I was calling it P. utahensis! Well, duh, it made sense! I collected it near Boulder, UTAH! It was when Kelly came over and saw it and suggested P. eatonii that I changed my mind after comparing pics, and started calling it that! Looking at more eatonii pics, tho, I think the leaves are too "big" on that one to be the one I have.

The P. rostriflorus (you have an extra "i" in it!) sure does look like what I saw along the road where I collected the seed! The range is right--but it is for the P. eatonii and the P. utahensis too!

http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Pink%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/penstemon%20rostriflorus.htm

I have a couple non-digital pics of it growing along the road somewhere, and if I ever find them I'll scan them into the computer and link them! But the P. r. pics on swcoloradowildflowers sure does look "wispy" kind of like they looked growing in the nasty, never watered, harsh conditions along the road! And the seed pods sure look right--tho most penstemons look pretty much like that!

The really confusing thing is how tall it gets in my yard! I assume that's the lack of sun--and the overabundance of water! That's why I still hope to get one (of the right ones!) to you to grow in full sun without water so I can see what it'll do in conditions closer to those where I found it--tho your conditions are NEVER gonna equal the awful conditions it was in where I found it!

There is another plant--second year I think--growing right in front of my original plant, and if we're both at the swap (I'll be trippin' again the end of August, so it depends on when the swap is!) I'll stick it in a pot and you can try another one to see what it turns out to be. The leaves on this one sure look like the original--but until it gets flowers there's no way to be sure!

So I'll leave it in the ground for now, and let's see what might work out for the fall swap! If I'm right that it's a second year plant, it should bloom some this year, so I might know for sure what color it is before I ever dig it to put it in a pot!

Just for the uniqueness of it, I bet you'd love the little P. davidsonii v. menziesii 'Microphyllus' I got (in the $1 each leftover sale plants!) at Laporte this spring. If you decide to order from them, or go up there to do a look-see next year, you might want to see if you can find one of them! Mine is still very small, but it's a cool little creepy (in the nicest way!) thing, that looks like it's gonna totally hug the ground. VERY different from "all the other" Penstemons! It's semi-woody, and my guess right now is that I'm not gonna wind up with any to "share!"

http://www.laporteavenuenursery.com/html/penstemon_davidsonii_v__menzie1.html

Skybird

The basal rosette of eatonii has spoon shaped leaves. Up the stalk, they are more "heart" shaped with the "lobes" kind of wrapped around the stem. That one of the main differences I noticed with the ones you gave me! The leaves were narrower and pointier.

Another update, my other strictus has now bloomed... Now I'm not sure the one you gave me is strictus either! It ALMOST looks like a P. barbatus "prairie dusk," but not quite. Do you happen to grow any other penstemons? The only other thing I can think of is that it a hybrid, but strictus blooms in spring/early summer and your eatonii/utahensis/whatever it might be blooms in late summer!

Here is the one you gave me (bumblebee not included lol). Look at the lower "lip" how long and down-turned it is with a very distinct :nectar guide (the whiteish "triangles" near the opening). Also, the fuzzy stamenoid is yellow:

I want it back!!!!! I don't know what you got, but it sure is pretty!

Yes, I do have other penstemon! But nothing that looks like that!!! If you go to this Fall 2013 swap thread--when I could still post actual pictures!--and scroll down to my Sept. 25 post (about half way down) where I'm listing the things I'm bringing, right below the 'Black Scallop' Ajuga there are 4 pics of 3 different Penstemons! The first two pics are what I got from the seed along the road near Boulder, Utah. The third pic is of a hybrid I started from seed that I got from HighAlt--the flowers turned out to be the "right color" but much smaller than the original hybrid. It's planted very close to the "Utah" one! And the fourth pic is of my P. strictus, which is nowhere near where the seedlings have been coming up--and I've never had any seedlings of that one come up anywhere near it, so I don't see how it magically came up so far away from the original plant! But the strictus is definitely the closest of the three I have to what you got! (Are you SURE that's the one you got from me and it didn't get mixed up with something you bought somewhere?!?!?)

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2138881/fall-swap-2013-plant-trading-here

Whatever it is that you wound up with, I love it! Maybe we'll need to chalk it up to MAGIC! And if you wound up with "something new," I think 'Magic' would be a good name for it!!!

Skybird

I'm letting it go to seed, or at least I will leave a few branches to, probably not all of them. So, I will get you some seeds from it if you want, but, it may again, be a mystery/surprise/craps shoot as to what you get. It has likely crossed some with my P. Strictus as I have watched the bees fly from one corner of the yard to the other between these two plants (literally making a "bee line" between them haha). Plus, if it was a mysterious hybrid I got from you, these genes could be all kinds of things! Hey, this might be pretty fun!!

I am pretty sure the flower you got from High Alt is P. barbatus. The species/wild type looks like yours in the picture (usually with scarlet flowers though) BUT there is a myriad of cultivated ones and hybrids with large flowers, many of them pink! "Prairie dusk" is one I compared the "mystery plant" to because they look similar and it is a barbatus cultivar or possibly hybrid. So are "elfin pink" and "coral baby" which may have been what Bonnie gave you seeds from. Do you think it's possible your penstemon from Bonnie crossed with either strictus or you "wild Utah?" that MAY be what we have going on here! Or, it could some weird F3 off your one from Bonnie that you said the original hybrid parent had large flowers...though, mine are not pink so I don;t know!

In any case, yes, I am 100% certain this is the one I got from you. Now, If I knew how to propagate it to be true, I would call it Penstemon hybrid "Skybird Magic" I've got to give credit where credit is due after all ;).