Penstemon parishii

Identification

Description

This plant seems to have the cold tolerance and drought tolerance of centranthifolius with the flowers and flowering of P.clevelandii, the plant matures to 3' with a 3' flower spike of the hottest pink flowers you ever saw. The flowers are 1" tubes of satin pink that are something hummingbirds will kill for. (You get into real trouble if you prune the flowers in June or July for a flower arrangement. You had better look out or one or two of the little hummers will be dive bombing you the whole time you're near this one.) It is native to the Calabasas area and is a natural hybrid.(Penstemon centranthifolius X Clevelandii). This a is plant passersby can see from the road. Gray plant people and pinkies love it! We get ladies with pink pants, blouse and shoes that get out of the car and see nothing else but this plant. It flowers at the same time as Salvia 'Pozo Blue' and Helianthus gracilentus so use them together in a sunny dry flower bed or slope. We will probably develop one or two other forms of this in the future. The area it is native to has clay soil and does fine in our sandy loam.