Penstemon eatonii

Submitted by LSchmidt on Sun, 06/28/2015 - 23:43

Calgary, Zone 3, taken June 27, 2015.  Penstemon eatonii is probably only marginally hardy in Calgary, but with some additional protection is seems to do fine.  The original plants were grown from seed collected at 8200 ' elevation in Utah (according to the label), so they are probably much hardier than some of the lower-elevation Penstemon eatonii plants.

This particular plant is only about four years old and is blooming for the first time.  In Calgary, with our cold winters,  it seems to take them that much time to build up enough energy to bloom properly.   No particular additional care is needed other than to site them in an area that is as hot as possible in summer (for our cool summers), and also give them some kind of mulch for the winter, or else keep them covered in snow as much as possible.

This plant is only about 30 cm high by 10 cm wide, but more mature plants have flower stalks that can be as much as 50 cm high here.  My oldest plant is about 10 years old. 

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