Palmer's Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri)

from $8.99

Botanical name: Penstemon palmeri • Bloom season: Late spring to summer • Bloom color: Pale pink • Pollinator value: Large open tubes built for big bumblebees

Tall spires of large pale pink bells with darker nectar guides in the throat and a real fragrance. It gets big, up to five feet in flower, and presents as a landmark in a dry garden. The flowers are wide-mouthed and built for large bumblebees, which crawl inside them.

Botanical name: Penstemon palmeri • Bloom season: Late spring to summer • Bloom color: Pale pink • Pollinator value: Large open tubes built for big bumblebees

Tall spires of large pale pink bells with darker nectar guides in the throat and a real fragrance. It gets big, up to five feet in flower, and presents as a landmark in a dry garden. The flowers are wide-mouthed and built for large bumblebees, which crawl inside them.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Penstemon palmeri

Common Name: Palmer's Penstemon

Native: Native

Native Region: Great Basin; Mojave Desert; Colorado Plateau

Sun: Full Sun

Water: Low

Bloom Time: Late spring to summer

Bloom Color: Pale pink

Pollinators: Bees; Hummingbirds

Deer Resistant: Yes

Mature Size: W 18"-24" x H 3'-5'

Soil: Sharply drained; lean, gravelly, alkaline soil

Pollinator Value: Large open tubes built for big bumblebees

Plant Type: Short-lived herbaceous perennial

USDA Zones: 4 to 8

Spread Habit: Clumping; self-sows

Available As: Live plant

Growing Notes

Full sun and sharply drained, lean, gravelly, alkaline ground. It is a roadside and wash plant in the wild and it wants those conditions: poor soil, sharp drainage, no summer water. Space about 2 feet apart. Do not plant it in an irrigated bed, which is the most common way it is lost.

  • Water: Low

  • Sun: Full Sun

  • Soil: Sharply drained; lean, gravelly, alkaline soil

  • Mature size: 3 to 5 ft by 18 to 24 in

Maintenance

Leave the stems standing over winter and cut back in late spring, keeping about a third. Let it self-sow, because it is short-lived, often three or four years, and a stand persists through seedlings rather than through old plants. No fertilizer, no summer irrigation, no division.