Palmer's penstemons -- amazing!
JoJo (Nevada 9A)
2 years ago
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Can this Penstemon superbus be saved?
Comments (11)I love desert penstemons too and always grow a ton (P. eatonii and P. palmeri are my best performers). Like Lazy said, sometimes they just up and die, and if I had to guess, that's what I'd guess happened to yours, but I'd just have trimmed it back like you both mentioned and then wait it out and see what happens. I don't save the seed of my penstemons, I just let scatter where it wants in spring and let it bake all summer to sprout in autumn. Saving it absolutely does not hurt of course, but I just shake the stalks when most of the pods are open, or pinch some seeds into my hand and toss them--it's all very casual, LOL. Either way works of course. The funny thing to me is that the self-sown ones always do better than purchased ones and always seem more drought resistant since they've grown in exact proportion to their roots. In summer I water my P. eatonii twice a month and the palmeri maybe once a month if that, and only during the blast furnace months. In any case, fun post and great replies as usual from Lazy. Keep us posted and either way, you'll have tons of babies from your seed, guaranteed, LOL. Take care, Grant...See MoreFavorite Penstemon Species
Comments (31)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:...See MorePenstemon mensarum
Comments (7)Hi Kat, I'm not talking so much about how drainable your soil is, I'm talking more about "shale" Penstemon needing a very loose "gravely" or "pebbly" soil. So, something very rocky that the water pretty much runs "straight thru!" I suspect this is one case where organic matter is not a particularly good thing! The other common name, Grand Mesa Penstemon kind of says the same thing! A loose combination of small gravel, sand, and wind blown silty clay. The kind of thing you're not gonna find in an "always adding organic matter" yard! Not sure what to tell you if you decide to try it again. There are a lot of "native" Penstemons that are never gonna do well in a "normal" residential yard. We used to get "native" plants in from a guy who liked to grow that kind of thing, and they'd be planted in a "soil" that was mostly coarse sand and tiny gravel. I doubt that they lived for most of the people who bought them and planted them in their "normal" soil, even if they had "good" soil! Things like that are things that you need to start a whole separate "rock garden" kind of area with the kind of soil they want. I love the color, and I thought about looking for one, but I don't have anywhere to plant it where I think there's any chance at all of it surviving. Might need to just keep looking at your pic! If you want to try gentian again, the one I have is the easiest to grow--that's why it's called "everyman's gentian!" Look for Gentiana septemfida and give it a try. Mine is in pretty heavy clay, and it doesn't get much bigger every year, but it grows and blooms nicely--late summer. I tried another one of the gentians and it didn't make it at all! Start with the septemfida! I suspect that one would do better than mine in a more organic soil! Skybird...See MoreSkybird: Update (I know EXACTLY what penstemon you gave me)
Comments (6)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...See MoreJoJo (Nevada 9A)
2 years agoJeff Adams
2 years ago
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