Our Penstemon Flower Seeds are in the wildflower family, common only to North America and has been adapted for backyard gardeners for over 300 years. Also called Beard-tongue or Beardtongue, that somewhat weird nickname is the result of an infertile stamen hanging out of the throat and across the lips of the blossoms and appearing unusually hairy.
Penstemon, pronounced PEN-stee-mon, blossoms have a tubular shape and are a hummingbird favorite, though deer and rabbits tend to avoid it. The most common colors are shades of pastel or brilliant pink, coming close to true red, but not quite succeeding…yet. Yellow varieties are quite rare, but do occur. Amazingly drought tolerant, the low mounds of foliage tend to kind of fade into their surroundings, until….the flower spikes literally explode with color! Blooming from the base to the tip of the spike, very similar to their snapdragon cousins, each tidy mound of ground-hugging foliage will produce numerous flower spires. This perennial will show signs of over-watering or two much shade by responding with floppy flower spikes. They will, however, thrive in rock gardens, possibly needing some supplemental watering during the spring and summer, but throughout the fall and winter, their bed must be well-drained. Beardtongue will readily self-sow if allowed to do so, though it is not considered invasive. The blossoms will produce brown seed heads as they fade, the tiny seeds inside being black upon maturity. Remove the spent blossoms prior to the seed ripening if you want to control their numbers. As with all living things, penstemons require adequate nutrition to perform at their best. In order to meet the nutritional needs of your penstemons, in the container or in the ground, we recommend regular feeding with Jungle Flora or Espoma Flower-tone®, both of which are approved for organic gardening, are formulated specifically for blooming plants and are safe for use around your family and pets, as well as being safe for the environment.
Each order of our fresh Penstemon seeds is filled by hand, put into a resealable plastic bag and then placed into a labeled seed packet. It is our goal to provide our customers the best in freshness and quality.
