Penstemon growing in Cascade Mts. east of Salem, OR

Submitted by Gene Mirro on Sat, 02/02/2013 - 10:41

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Growing in moist soil on an east-facing hillside at roughly 4200 feet altitude.

Comments


Submitted by Gene Mirro on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 10:29

It's growing at 4200 feet altitude in full sun on a rocky, east-facing hillside where there is a lot of water until late Summer.  There are no trees.  It's over a foot tall there, but in my garden, it only gets about 8 inches tall.  This is unusual, since plants normally get bigger in the garden than in nature.  Maybe it's because I am growing them a little dry in the garden.  My garden is at 600 feet altitude.  The flowers are a beautiful blue.


Submitted by Gene Mirro on Wed, 06/05/2013 - 00:44

This is what they look like today in my garden:

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The plants are getting very big, much bigger than in nature, and the stems are sprawling horizontally, which they do not do in nature.  Also, the flower color seems much more violet this year.  Disregard the white flower petals.  My black locust trees are dropping their spent blossoms all over the garden, by the millions.


Submitted by Mark McD on Wed, 06/05/2013 - 07:56

Still looking good Gene, handsome flowers, interesting to see the difference from plants growing in the wild and characteristics when under cultivation.  I lost my plants last year, got crowded out by neighboring shrubs.