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Penstemon arenicola
Also called Red Desert Penstemon, Sand Beardtongue
Sand penstemon (Penstemon arenicola) is a small, low-growing perennial native to sagebrush steppe in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, with waxy blue-green leaves and a woody base. It is grown by rock gardeners and succeeds with very sharp drainage in full sun.
Penstemon arenicola, commonly known as Red Desert penstemon, is a species of plant from the Western United States. It primarily grows in Wyoming, but it also grows in small areas of Colorado and Utah. It is a short plant known for growing in sand as referenced by its scientific name.
Red Desert penstemon is occasionally cultivated, both inside and outside its natural range by rock gardeners. In a garden setting they need a well draining growing medium such as sand or gravel in full sun. They are grown from seed, which require eight weeks of cool-moist stratification followed by variable temperatures to sprout. A very small number of seeds, 17% in an experiment, will sprout when planted at 21 °C (70 °F).
According to the USDA Penstemon arenicola grows in most of western Wyoming as well as the very northwestern corner of Colorado in Moffat County and adjacent Daggett County and Uintah County, Utah. It can be found between elevations of 1,800–2,400 meters (5,900–7,900 ft).
Firleaf beardtongue · Stemless beardtongue · Sharpleaf penstemon · Los Alamos beardtongue · Alberta beardtongue · White penstemon · White River Beardtongue · Whitemargin beardtongue · Gilia beardtongue · Penstemon angelicus · Siskiyou beardtongue · Broadbeard beardtongue
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Penstemon arenicola by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
