Download Penstemon canescens

Penstemon canescens
Kemper Center for Home Gardening
Missouris Botanical Garden
http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?Code=A254
Kemper Code: A254
Plant Culture and
Characteristics
Common Name: beard tongue
Zone: 5 to 8
Sources for this plant
Plant Type: Herbaceous
perennial
View our source(s)
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Missouri Native: No
Native Range: Eastern United
States
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 1 to 1.5 feet
Bloom Time: May - June
Bloom Color: Pale to dark
violet
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium wet
Maintenance: Low
General Culture:
Easily grown in average, dry to medium wet, well-drained soils in full sun. Avoid wet, poorlydrained soils. Remove spent flowering racemes to prolong bloom. Plants may be cut back to
basal foliage after flowering to improve appearance of the planting.
Noteworthy Characteristics:
This species of penstemon (sometime commonly called gray beard tongue) is a clump-forming
perennial which typically grows 1-3' tall. It is native to dry slopes and woods primarily in the
Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to North Carolina and Alabama. Features loose
terminal racemes of pale to dark violet, two-lipped, tubular flowers (to 1 1/2" long) atop erect,
rigid, hairy, gray stems. Flowers bloom in late spring to summer. Clasping, oblong-lanceolate,
medium green upper stem leaves (2-6" long). Broad-ovate basal foliage. This species is often
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covered with dense, minute gray hairs. Penstemon in Greek means five stamens (four are fertile
and one is sterile). Penstemons are sometimes commonly called beard tongues because the sterile
stamen has a tuft of small hairs.
Problems:
No serious insect or disease problems. Root rot can occur in wet, poorly-drained soils. Leaf spot
may also occur.
Uses:
Sunny areas of borders, rock gardens or native plant gardens.
© Missouri Botanical Garden, 2001-2007
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Penstemon canescens
North Carolina State University
Life Cycle: Perennial
Height: 1 to 2 feet
Flower/fruit: 1 inch pale to deep violet-purple flowers; corolla
is abruptly swollen in the middle; has grooves and dark lines in
the open throat
Flowering Season: Spring, summer
Foliage: 2 to 4 inch egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped leaves;
upper leaves are stalkless and have rounded to heart-shaped
base, sharply toothed margins; lower leaves are broader and
stalked
Site: Light, well-drained soil; sun to partial shade; dry woods,
rocky slopes
Prepared by: Erv Evans, Consumer Horticulturist
Web Design by: Christa Johnson
Web Updates by: Ebony McLeod and Heather Monroe
© 2000-2004 NC State University
Images © by Erv Evans
Scientific Name
Penstemon canescens
Common Name
Beard-tongue, Penstemon
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/wildflowers/penstemon_canescens.html
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