Thousand word excerpt
"Because you picked up this book, you probably know and have grown a few penstemons and appreciated their beautiful colors, drought tolerance and disease resistance. You may know that there are quite a few, but have no idea of the amazing variety of colors, shapes and sizes that are available for you to grow. There are penstemons for almost every type of climate and garden. This guide will introduce them to you. Their bewildering names and the great number of penstemons have made it difficult to choose the ones best for a particular gardening situation. Members of the American Penstemon Society have been growing them and collecting information about them from many sources for over fifty years. The more they have learned, the more enthusiastic they have become. We have tried to present this information in an easily readable form. We hope you too will become addicted and want to grow many more species, cultivars and hybrids. Many different species in the genus Penstemon occur in the wild in each of the states of the US (except Hawaii) and in Canada, Mexico and Guatemala. Penstemons have been in cultivation in many other countries. Cultivars have been selected and propagated and hybrids created in North America, Great Britain, Europe and New Zealand."
The following is a description such as is used for each of the species:
P. nitidus is an early-blooming light to medium blue-flowered dryland species that should be more widely known. Usually 6 12? tall, several stems have beautiful, glaucous blue-green leaves and 4 10 congested verticillasters of small blue funnel-form flowers, sometimes with pink tubes. It is found from se. British Columbia, s. Alberta, w. Manitoba and MT, ND, SD and n. WY in clay and gravelly soils in the plains and prairies at 3500? in the northern Rocky Mts. It germinates after 8 weeks cold, moist stratification and performs well where it gets plenty of moisture until after bloom ends and new growth is well along. It may then be kept dry through the summer. It is not a long-lived plant but off-shoots can be taken after the second year to perpetuate it. Space plants 6 inches apart for a good display. It has been grown from e. WA and n. NM to MT, NE, MN, MI and MA. Variety polyphyllus has more erect and less compact flower clusters and may reach 2?. Anthers: dark, widely divergent, opening widely; staminode, dilated, recurved with golden hairs at apex, included to barely exserted Name: nitidus = shining or handsome Subgenus Penstemon, section Coerulei
From the chapter on selecting, growing and caring for penstemons:
"Rock gardens, slopes and raised beds provide ideal conditions for the greatest variety of penstemon species. You will need to decide whether you will keep it fairly dry or water regularly. This will influence your selection of species to grow. Those from northern states and alpine areas will perform better if watered regularly by normal precipitation or artificial irrigation, especially in the spring. Those from normally arid regions can perform well if watered infrequently, perhaps, not at all! This will depend on your soil and precipitation. What ever style of garden and penstemons you select, you should have soil that is well aerated and drains quickly. This means digging deeply and incorporating materials that will keep the soil porous such as pumice and/or coarse sand or gravel, or, building a raised bed by mixing the same materials and building up a mound or filling a frame above soil level."
Other chapters cover methods of propagation and creating hybrids. Botanical terms are illustrated and the appendices suggest where to see penstemons, which ones beginners should grow, sources for seeds and plants and much other useful information. Thirty-two color photographs.
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