PlantFiles: Beardtongue, Beard Tongue
Penstemon barbatus

Tall, semi-evergreen perennial from Central and North America.

Has linear to lance shaped, mid to blue green leaves. Bears tubular, reddish flowers with a yellow beard on the lower lip.

Flowers June - September

Loves a well-drained, fertile soil in sun or light shade. Won't do well on soils that lie too wet over winter

I planted a penstemon in Virginia in the spring under the right soil/light conditions and it did not bloom all season. The foliage grew, but no flowers. Same thing next year -- then I ripped it out. Not sure what the problem was, but would atleast say the plant is not super "easy".

Positive and then some! What a simply gloriously rewarding plant! Quite easy care, just no worries with this sweetheart of a perennial. Well-shaped, erect and well-mannered, it looks good in and out of bloom. It's tolerant of all but the worst soil, doesn't pout if neglected, isn't pushy with its neighbors -- if I had a place for them, I'd make a "Penstemons-Only" bed!

Atlanta: I - like hugahosta - was ready to rip all mine out this year if they didn't bloom and - WOW! - they are all blooming now. I have great masses of them! I had bought one plant (summer 2002) and it grew, but no flowers. I cut it back in the winter and used the pieces to grow a whole lot more. They flourished and grew big and bold and last year I had ONE! flower. So I cut them back as they browned after the first bad frost. (We get a lot of 18-20 degree weather in the winter here and they were very frowsy looking). Last year I just let them sprawl throughout the winter, trying to see if cutting might be the problem.

Now I am still not sure if it was the cutting back or just the fact they are now 3 years old but they over 4' tall now, no staking.

I'll post a pix later today - they are beautiful! Masses of flowers!

I had it planted in a part shade location (morning sun, afternoon dappled tree shade, a bit of late day sun), watered it every 5 days in the middle of a Texas summer, gave into the heat. All other plants are fine around it. Never bloomed or showed signs of growth.

This plant was given to me as a pass along recently. I plopped some of it in the ground and some in a pot, they are all growing like crazy and blooming up a storm. Gorgeous and easy, considering I have next to no gardening experience.

I have tried one or two different cultivars of this species - they all sulk the first year, then die during the winter - not worth my time.

I bought tons of penstemons from Lowes the past two summers. They're supposedly hardy perennials. They bloom like crazy in the summer but haven't made it through the NJ winters. Shame since this is one of my favorites.