Costa's Hummingbird on Mojave beardtongue, Penstemon incertus
Penstemon incertus
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon lives here
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon out by Onyx
Hummingbird on Penstemon incertus
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon between Ridgecrest and Onyx
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon with mass of flowers
Penstemon incertus, Western Desert Penstemon as 3 ft. shrub
Penstemon incertus with Encelia actonii
Description
Penstemon incertus is showy sky blue perennial that has 2 foot of light green (with a little silver) foliage with 2 foot spikes of blue above it. It grows along the desert edges from north L.A. to Lone Pine. At the top of Walker Pass it makes a mass showing each year. A delightful plant. with delightful flowers. It grows on granite soils or sand on the sites I've seen it. The rainfall in the areas ranges from 10-15 inches per year. Companion plants are Joshua tree, Blue Oak, Lycium, Pinus monophylla, Encelia farinosa and Desert Olive. (Yucca breviflora, Quercus doug., Lycium spp., Encelia sp., and Salvia dorrii). It loves a south facing gravelly bank on the nursery grounds that is so miserably hot and cold the weeds have trouble. Click here for more about California Penstemons.