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Penstemon heterophyllus

 
Penstemon heterophyllus

Common name chaparral penstemon
Family plantaginaceae
Life cycle perennial (Z6-10)
Flowers blue (May-June)
Size to 2 ft
Light full sun-part shade
Cultural notes well-drained soil
From seed Germinate at cold temperature.
detailed seed-starting info below

chaparral penstemon

As penstemons go, this one gets close to a clear blue. I've not found it to be reliably hardy in our garden (some sources list it as zone 7), but have some tougher plants that seem to hang on better. Maybe more a drainage than cold-hardiness issue.
According to my resources, this should be drought tolerant and deer resistant.

We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston.

Read about all the penstemon species in our garden

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PlantLinks to other web pages about Penstemon heterophyllus


Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from '01 trade. Baggy 35F (6w; 72%G 4-6w)
  2. Same seed as above. Baggy 35F (9w; 80%G, 5-9w)
  3. Seed from '04 garden. Baggy 35F (9w; 16%G, 8w) - 70F (no further G)
  4. Seed from '08 trade. Baggy 35F (9w) - 70F (53%G, 3-8d)
  5. Seed from '08 trade. Baggy 35F (9w) - 70F (83%G, 3-10d). A minority of the sprouted seeds grew into healthy seedlings.
  6. Seed from '14 trade. Baggy 35F (8w) - 70F (78%G, 4-10d)


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