A Plant Select release out of Colorado, this is a vigorous and floriferous selection of the species getting 12"-18" tall and wider. This has myriad tubular, orange flowers that are hummingbird crack which flower for many weeks in summer to early fall. Low water needs, don't kill it with the kindness of rich compost. Another positive is that deer - ours anyway - don't like Penstemon.

This occurs east of the Cascades and in CA and NV at high elevations and in Sue's opinion is the best form of Penstemon procerus.  Small tight ground-hugging mats of fleshy succulent green leaves are backing for the short dark blue flowers.  Consummate rock garden plant.

A time-tested durable perennial for the garden which boasts deep purple flowers thatt continue into fall if dead-headed.  If you can't be bothered to dead-head, then you will just have to content yourself with 2 months of outrageous color in early summer on a plant which will get to 3' by 3'.

Let's talk drought tolerance. This is one step up from cactus. We always marvel at this growing out of cracks in sheer basalt cliffs on the dry Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge and looking oh so good despite the most rigorous of conditions. Great for the rock garden. Good drainage.  Purple-pink flowers on this evergreen subshrub.

A plant that has proved its worth over the years performing beautifully at the Denver Botanic Garden handling not only summer heat but winter cold. A hybrid which gets to just 18" tall or a tad more with lots of rich purple flowers for nearly 2 months in early summer. Thanks to Ian of Desert Northwest for turning us on to this goodie.

Nice smaller hybrid between Mexican and American species which combines good vigor with sun and low water needs and a floral jewel box of garnet colored flowers in summer.  Everyone wants to lay out the banquet table for hummingbirds and this should have them coming back for seconds.  Good in the rock garden.

A collection from the hills above Oaxaca by plantsman Chen Hao. A smaller upright shrubby species with very fine textured thin leaves and spires of small tubular pink flowers custom made for hummingbirds and other nectar feeders with enviably long tongues.  This is evocative of P. kunthii except for the flower color which is paler. Something to key out this summer with chips, guac and several cold Negro Modelo.

Cascades Penstemon.  Easy native Penstemon that grows from the subalpine to almost the coast from oregon to British Columbia and is one we find in our own Olympic Mts.  This will grow in rocky areas but is often found in moist areas along streams and in meadows.  10"-30" tall with upright stems topped by blue-tinged purplish flowers.

Seed-grown from a collection in the Indian Heaven area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the southern Cascade Mts of Washington.  Surely one of our favorite Penstemon, this has glaucous, rounded leaves on creeping mats with pink flowers that just lovely.  This requires a rock garden, trough or crevice garden as it needs a lean and gritty, mineral soil with excellent drainage.

A wild collection from 4450' in Eddy County New Mexico. With stems to 3', the tubular red flowers rank one side of the stem looking very refined. An unspoken secret of the very refined is their dense scruff of golden, decidedly pubic hairs just inside the throat. These catch and transfer pollen while keeping the flower's naughty bits hot, steamy and ready.

Whipple's Penstemon.  Broadly distributed on both sides of the Rockies down the US, this should be more widely available.  Most commonly with clustered down-turned trumpets of a rich burgundy to purple, different population can also be white or lavender.  Very pleasing in all of its forms, this is a good garden plant taking more moisture than a lot of the rock garden Penstemons.

Sweet hybrid between two of the best Washington natives, Penstemon rupicola and P. barrettiae.  This is growing in our rock garden where it excels in poor, well-drained, sandy soil in full sun with minimal water.  Nice evergreen leaves and big sugar pink flowers in summer.  Ours came from the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society.

A native of dry, rocky slopes in the northern Rockies. Glossy evergreen leaves are complemented by spikes of light blue to violet flowers in mid-summer. Leaves will sometimes take on a nice purple coloration in winter. Appreciates a lean well-drained soil in a sunny location so rock gardens or dry gravel gardens are great.

A variety of P. fruticosus found only in the Blue Mountains in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. This variety hugs the ground, forming mats up to 3ft wide covered in pale pink to lavender flowers in mid-summer. The toothed leaves separates this from other varieties of fruticosus. Full sun and ideal in well-drained lean rock gardens.

This is an excellent rock or crevice garden Penstemon we picked up at Aberconwy Nursery in Wales.  Their selection for lavender flowers of Penstemon rupicola, we suspect it is a hybrid as the species normally has blue-ish foliage and pink flowers.  Great introduction regardless and it is thriving in our crevice garden.