'Bashful' Beard-tongue; or,
Pink Bugler
"Have you got a brook in your little heart,
Where bashful flowers blow?"
Emily Dickinson,
1830-1886
1830-1886
There is apt to be some confusion over this plant's cultivar name 'Bashful,' because a species beard-tongue, Penstemon pudicus, has the common name Bashful Beard-tongue, whereas our 'Bashful' was bred from P. barbatus.
Spikes of coral-pink to orangish salmon-pink foxglove-like blooms rise above evergreen foliage, with a long bloom season from June to at least first frost, often still blooming through a number of mild frosts before it quits for the winter. Deadheading spent flowers helps to insure such a long bloom time.
It is more compact than many similar penstemons, clumping foliage that averages a scant twelve inches height, & flower stalks fourteen to eighteen inches tall lined with smaller than average tubular flowers.
Glossy foliage is evergreen in our climate, but should be sheered back just before new growth in spring.
Although it is an intraspecies hybrid, it is nevertheless grows true from seed. The pure species is native to North & Central America. The wild species has three basic color variations, called Crimson Bugler, White Bugler, & Pink Bugler. It is also known as Beardlip.
Penstemon barbatus 'Prairie Dusk'