Shrubby Penstemon
Penstemon fruticosus
Shrubby penstemon is a low, woody-based evergreen penstemon of the Northwest, covered in large lavender-blue flowers, superb in rock gardens and dry borders. Penstemons can accumulate toxic levels of selenium from seleniferous soils — a real, well-documented poisoning risk (especially to horses) that varies unpredictably by site, not a garden food plant.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–2 ft
- Spacing
- 1–2 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- May, June, July, August
- Bloom colors
- pink, purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, hummingbirds, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~8 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- foundation, container
- Native states
- ID, MT, OR, WA, WY
Related native plants
More Penstemon species
- Large Beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus)
- Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
- Cobaea Beardtongue (Penstemon cobaea)
- Scarlet Bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius)
- Palmer's Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri)
- Beardlip Penstemon (Penstemon barbatus)