How To Sow And Grow Penstemon (Beardtongue) : Cottoverdi

[@tcstoehr]

What a delightful lady. I now simply MUST grow Penstemon Tubaeflorus in my Canby, Oregon flower garden. Another first for me.

[@cottoverdi]

Fantastic - happy to have inspired you. Hello Oregon! 👋🏼

[@bewoodford2807]

Fab video Annette. I am loving all the vids you are putting out.I never want to find myself skipping any part of the content, every part is informative and interesting. I Chelsea chop my plants, but only half as you do, and it gives fab staggered flowering, prolonging the season, - fantastic. One of my favourite Pentstemons is Dark Towers. Gorgeous red/burgundy leaves and dark stems with pretty pink flowers. Also love Hidcote Pink. The penstemon i grew last year didn't flower so hoping for some flowers this year. Great germination - I ws really pleased. Good luck with your seeds. Love the last variety Tubaflorus, looks gorgeous. I think I might like to give that one a go. So tall and dainty. I have tried to grow Stapleford Gem in my garden but it never survives, sadly. It is beautiful. I also love Czar, which did very well until the Winter of 22/23. I actually lost all my Penstemons that season apart from Dark Towers. Happy gardening 😃 x

[@cottoverdi]

Thanks Be. I appreciate your support so much and I just hope I can continue to make entertaining videos sharing my garden. I have Hidcote pink but mine seems to be a sort of pinky-peach colour and I find it hard to combine with other colours - do you have any suggestions about companion planting with it? Or maybe it's not supposed to have that peachy tone in it and I was sent the wrong one?! It wouldn't be the first time!!! Czar looks gorgeous - may have to track that one down...

[@bewoodford2807]

@@cottoverdi I was wondering if you may have bought a mislabelled one- mine is definitely pink. It is also quite low growing is that a similar habit to yours? I think the smaller (lower) penstemons look great with roses and good with peonies as they follow on from the peonies to provide colour for the rest of the year until the frosts. I don't think it would really matter which peony you planted it with as the Peony flowers will bee over by the time the Penstemon flowers. If you are concerned then maybe go for a coral Peony?

[@teresataylor8267]

Looking forward to seeing your blooms!

[@cottoverdi]

Me too! Thanks Teresa 💚

[@ivan11cast]

Awesome video. I ran into scarlet bearedtongue this weekend and they are a beauty. I got a couple of the dried stems that were laying on the ground and hope to collect seeds. Would love them in my garden for hummingbirds.

[@cottoverdi]

Thanks Ivan - hope you have good luck with your seed gathering. 🌱

[@lindajones9191]

I've just winter sowed Palmieri Penstemon today in a milk jug outside. It's my very first time growing penstemon, so it was helpful to see this video as it reassures me that I've probably sown it properly. I loved the varieties you featured in your video, and I'll likely try a few of them next year if the palmieri works out in my garden this year. Thanks Annette!

[@cottoverdi]

Wow, Linda, that's is soooo pretty - it almost looks like a foxglove! Would love to know what you think of it when it's in full bloom. 😊

[@lindajones9191]

@@cottoverdi If it does well, I'll let you know what I think and perhaps send a photo along. I'm looking forward to seeing how all your lovely selections look in future videos!

[@sofielys5452]

I'm trying the Twizzle Blue variety this year. Fingers crossed!

[@cottoverdi]

Fab! I absolutely loved the Twizzle coral last year and plant to sow more! 🌱🌱🌱

[@JackieShorter]

Thank you once again for an informative video. Love penstemons, their slug resistance is a real bonus. I rejuvenate mine every three years or so as I find if they survive the winter they get a bit ropey after a couple of years. Going to look out for that Huskers Red, stunning. Looking forward to following the progress of your wee seeds.

[@cottoverdi]

Thank you, yes, I also divide mine every few years - I think this helps them.

[@arnorrian1]

I had great success winter sowing Penstemon Mystica. Got about 25 plants from a single six-liter water jug.

[@cottoverdi]

Wow! so many plants. Mystica looks fab too.

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

I grow native Penstemon in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and we have a couple of species that seem to tolerate clay soil pretty well! I would say Penstemon serrulatus and Penstemon ovatus (the Cascade penstemon and the egg leafed or broad-leaved penstemon) have done the best for me followed by Penstemon rydbergii the meadow penstemon too. Of course I make an effort to plant them in reasonably well-drained positions... The seeds unfortunately have not germinated at all for inside for me though, I still have to experiment with how much cold stratification they need. They also have not reseeded outside, I'm not sure if they need fire or something mechanical to break their dormancy... The native ones I grow all have very similar purple flowers and have been somewhat evergreen (although the foliage will look pretty rough and red during the winter), they haven't had a very long bloom period for me because our summers get so hot but I bet you have milder ones. I've tried some red flowered species too native to the SW USA but I have had a heck of a problem with slugs eating those, so I haven't had any bloom yet! Thanks for the video, I should try fall sowing under vermiculite in some protected containers outside in the future and see how that works.

[@cottoverdi]

Hi Hayley, than you so much for all the wonderful information and tips! You are a fountain of Penstemon knowledge. They are such pretty plants that I can't help but try to grow a collection of different varieties. Only 2 varieties have germinated so far and I've just potted them on. I do hope some of the others germinate but it's been a while now...

[@wendybartlett6717]

Having seen your pictures, I think my Sour Grapes that I lost after an Autumn prune was definitely Stapleford Gem. My local garden centre sells a lot of them (labelled as Sour Grapes) each year as I'm always looking for different varieties. I have Garnet in my garden and will Spring prune that as I too find that Penstemons survive better that way.

[@cottoverdi]

That's so funny, yes, I've read that a few decades ago, many garden centres in UK had mis-named their Stapleford Gems as Sour Grapes and it's stuck and now it's become a nuisance to try to correct it! 🤣

[@dennispratt3344]

Hello can you recommend were to buy good seeds please? thanks

[@cottoverdi]

Hi, if you live in UK, I always buy online - Chiltern Seeds, Kings Seeds, Plants of Distinction etc

[@MichaelRoberts-ru1rw]

Very helpful video. Just planning for next year! Did the Penstemon Twizzle Coral turn out as you’d hoped?

[@cottoverdi]

Yes it did - it was better than I hoped and I had so many blooms - I'm planning to grow many more this year. You can see how it was in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/eV6Tm5-ijJWEjLMsi=cEG88RvJXKbgA-18

[@catreeves963]

I quite enjoy Penstamon electric blue!

[@cottoverdi]

Oh Wow, Cat, that really is electric! It would look so good with whites and yellows. 💚

[@my_garden.secrets]

It was a long video without any actual coverage on the beautiful plants in the garden yet lively narration with those happy bright eyes ❤❤❤❤😃💚💚.

[@cottoverdi]

Thanks and sorry for not including any of the actual plants but I've never grown these ones before so I don't have any footage. I will try to do better with future videos.

[@my_garden.secrets]

@@cottoverdi ohh no .I meant even though there were no actual plants your narration was so lively and gripping that I never even felt anything missing .Yu ar amazing ! Not many can do that.

[@cottoverdi]

Oh, thank you! 😁😊

[@richbishop7896]

I've grown penstemon Husker's Red in my zone 5b Canadian garden for years. I don't cut down until spring. I would like to try Midnight Masquerade. It's a lavender purple with dark foliage. Bonny

[@cottoverdi]

Oh, yes, Bonny. Midnight Masquerade looks fabulous - such a pretty colour, I will have to look out for that one.

[@laurelsayer7557]

I get frosts down to about -8C in Surrey but my ground is heavier and unfortunately they don't survive our wet winters.

[@cottoverdi]

Oh, that's such a shame Laurel. I've found that adding loads of mulch and (homegrown) compost and leaf mould has helped with my heavy soil but it's such a battle with the clay!

[@eliev7844]

Great video, Annette. Thank you for the fabulous content. I’ve just sown some Twizzle Purple a couple of weeks ago, but so far, no sign of germination, which’s very disappointing 😞

[@cottoverdi]

Thanks Elie. I think the Penstemon can take a while - like over a month! to geminate. Fingers crossed we both have some success 😁

[@graceb2009]

I liked too much❤

[@cottoverdi]

Thanks Grace. 💚