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Penstemon strictus
Also called Rocky Mountain Beardtongue
Rocky Mountain penstemon is a hardy North American perennial wildflower with showy blue flowers, grown as a drought-tolerant ornamental and used in roadside revegetation. It thrives in dry, well-drained soil and full sun.
Penstemon strictus, more commonly known as the Rocky Mountain penstemon, is a penstemon (common name beardtongue) with showy blue flowers.
Because of its combination of showy flowers, tolerance for drought, and hardiness, Rocky Mountain penstemon is often grown as an ornamental plant in dry regions. It is planted in xeriscape gardens, in naturalistic meadows, and is also frequently used for revegetation of roadsides by state highway departments in the United States.
It has less particular requirements for dry or well drained soil than many other penstemon species. Plants are most frequently propagated by seed, though root division is also successful. The seeds show some need for cool moist stratification, with greater germination after being kept at 4 °C (40 °F) for two to three months. The seeds also tend to sprout more frequently when exposed to light near the soil surface. Germination occurs when temperatures reach 16 °C (60 °F) for one to two weeks.
Rocky Mountain penstemon is native to the region from southern Wyoming and western Colorado south to northeastern Arizona and northern New Mexico. There is an isolated population in Mono County, California that appears to be a recent introduction. Likewise, reports from Arapahoe County, Colorado and northeastern New Mexico in Harding and Union counties are also likely human facilitated introductions. The database Plants of the World Online reports it as an established introduced plant in Montana and NatureServe additionally records it growing in the Canadian province of Alberta. They are found at elevations of 1,700 to 3,500 meters (5,600 to 11,500 ft).
Scabland penstemon · Uinta Basin beardtongue · Bunchleaf penstemon · Penstemon isophyllus · Pineneedle beardtongue · Showy penstemon · Venus penstemon · Beardtongue
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Penstemon strictus 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.
