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Not sure what other poster was on about as it is obvious comments can be made.......

I have nothing helpful to add about the penstemons, as I have only grown the very common (and popular) named varieties. Red Ridinghood is my fav and much loved by the hummingbirds.

Oh, yes there is a comment option way down when I scroll. 😬 Thank you floral!

I have not had much success with them. It's pretty normal here in NC to get dry spells for long periods. I'd think penstemons might do ok with that. Winters can be wetter. Maybe that's what did them in. But Jay , isn't it pretty rainy around Chicago? Does anyone know which penstemons tolerate more moisture in winter?

Hi, the problem with this thread appears to be the original author's initial post that had a large space after the comment followed by a backward slant which maintained the space. That can be removed and backspace up to the comment to remove the large empty space and the need to keep scrolling down to get to the comments.

As far as Penstemons go, like others I only have the more common Penstemon. I know long ago I tried a number of different varieties and seem to remember enjoying them all and can't remember why I ended up with only one Penstemon. I bought 'Husker's Red' initially but I replaced that with 'Dark Towers' which I really liked. The foliage stays a nice dark color. I wasn't as fond of the pale pink flowers, but I added it for the foliage mostly.

Mine self seeds amazingly....lol. I actually love the seed heads in the fall even more than the flowers, so I tend to leave them up too long and next thing you know, I have babies everywhere. I enjoy the reversions. Most of the self seeded plants are green with some that have the dark foliage. The green are larger plants with larger white flowers and I enjoy those too.

If I had more room, I'd love to add more Penstemon. I wanted to offer Hummingbirds some flowers earlier in the season with the Penstemon but for some reason I rarely see one that early. They are a great easy no care plant for me. I do nothing to them. They don't mind my clay soil.

And the foliage turns a pretty color in the fall...

Mmm. lovely combination there (esp. 2nd pic), Prairie. I did grow Huskers Red back in the day and I am now convinced to grow them again (especially since I have space in a bed not at all dissimilar to yours, PM (except I have achillea terracotta to do the bronze-y orange).

Oh great, you were able to fix your comment, much better...lol.

I really do like those two combinations. I look forward to them in the fall because I do enjoy orange and I don't use it during the other seasons much. Butterfly weed is about the only orange I have in Summer and I'm still trying to find a good place to put it, because I have so much pink. Nope I just remembered I also have the native Tiger Lily. I wonder if they bloom at the same time as the Butterfly weed, I might try to put them together.

If you go looking for Husker's Red, they may have Dark Towers and it would be interesting to compare the two.

That second photo was just a lucky shot....I'm sure you have sedum somewhere and I love sedums for so many reasons, but once it gets to the color rust, I just don't enjoy it any more. This photo is just at the perfect coloring on the sedum blooms and that doesn't last long before it turns into that rust color. And I got lucky with the Chrysanthemum because it was just a casual buy locally and it is a great performer and comes back faithfully every spring.

I love Achillia Terra Cotta, the color is luscious. I enjoy Achillia, so vigorous and benefiials love it, but it was too vigorous for me, and just kept me working to keep it in bounds all the time. I am still looking for a new place to put it where I can let it go.

Erasmus - Penstemon seem to do great here in New England zone 6. I have clay soil and usually rain in the spring and the fall and supplemental watering in the summer if it's dry. Although I really do have fairly well draining soil despite the clay. No standing water ever even after a heavy rain.

Jay, those are very pretty Penstemons and the flowers are so different than mine.