About

Penstemon albidus, commonly known as white penstemon, white-flower beardtongue, or Red-Line Beardtongue is a very widespread perennial flower of the mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies. Its natural distribution is from Manitoba and Alberta in Canada to Texas and New Mexico in the United States. The bright white flowers for which it are named are quite attractive to both bees and hummingbird moths.

How to grow it

White penstemons are durable and long-lived in garden conditions, giving a good show of flowers early in the summer, however the leaves are not noticeable or showy. Indeed, it was one of the first penstemon seeds offered for sale in Europe by John Fraser in 1813, though it is not much grown there in the 21st century. In garden settings they are adapted to full sun and neutral to somewhat alkaline soils. They are adapted to sandy loam, sand, or gravelly soils and require either largely dry soils or very well drained conditions.

Seed for cultivation are collected in April–July when they have darkened in color. Their seeds require cold and moist stratification of eight weeks to sprout or to be planted outside over the winter. The coldest USDA hardiness zones where this plant is known to survive is zone 3.

Where it grows

Penstemon albidus is commonly found growing in silty, sandy loam, or gravelly soils. and they can be found grow from 300 to 1800 m in elevation. Its main habitat is open, dry prairies, but it also grows in juniper savannas in Colorado.

Other Penstemon plants

Firleaf beardtongue · Stemless beardtongue · Sharpleaf penstemon · Los Alamos beardtongue · Alberta beardtongue · White River Beardtongue · Whitemargin beardtongue · Gilia beardtongue · Penstemon angelicus · Siskiyou beardtongue · Broadbeard beardtongue · Sand penstemon