Rocky Mountain Penstemon Seeds (Penstemon strictus)

from $4.00

Botanical name: Penstemon strictus‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to summer ‍ • Bloom color: Deep blue-purple ‍ •

Pollinator value: Worked heavily by bumble bees

Seed of the most forgiving penstemon in the catalog, and a good first native seed for someone learning to stratify. It germinates more reliably than the desert species and produces the deep blue-purple spikes that bumblebees love. Growing a drift from seed costs a fraction of buying the same number of plants.

Botanical name: Penstemon strictus‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to summer ‍ • Bloom color: Deep blue-purple ‍ •

Pollinator value: Worked heavily by bumble bees

Seed of the most forgiving penstemon in the catalog, and a good first native seed for someone learning to stratify. It germinates more reliably than the desert species and produces the deep blue-purple spikes that bumblebees love. Growing a drift from seed costs a fraction of buying the same number of plants.

Size:

Sowing and Growing Notes

The seed requires cold, moist stratification of roughly six weeks. In Northern Nevada, the simplest route is a late-fall outdoor sowing that lets winter do the work; otherwise, chill the seed in damp sand in the refrigerator before spring sowing. Sow onto lean, sharply drained ground in full sun and barely cover.

  • Water: Low

  • Sun: Full Sun

  • Soil: Sharply drained; lean soil

  • Mature size: W 12"-18" x H 18"-30"

Maintenance

Rosettes appear in the first year, flowers in the second. Once established, water minimally, don't fertilize, leave stems standing over winter, and cut back in late spring. Leave some seed heads so it reseeds itself.