Deno’s GardenMy Garden

Penstemon gracilis

Lilac Beardtongue · Lilac Penstemon · Lilac-flowered Beardtongue

Family PlantaginaceaeGenus Penstemon

A pale lilac tubular flower with a white lower lip and a yellow-marked throat, hanging from a stem covered in fine hairs.
FlowerKurt Stüber [1]CC BY-SA 3.0

About the plant

What it is and where it grows — not part of any germination protocol.

Habit
perennialPlants of the World Online
Habit
Perennial, Forb/herbPLANTS Database
Flower
Pale lilacRead from the photograph on this page
Native range
Canada, lower 48 statesPLANTS Database

Toxicity is noted only where a source states it. No note here is not a finding of safety.

Sources: Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; PLANTS Database — USDA NRCS; Read from the photograph on this page — Deno's Garden.

Worth knowing

  • In the Lakota language it is zuze'ca tapejuta. In a study of more than 120 northern Great Plains species, it was one of just ten whose flowering date held steady despite warmer temperatures. Wikipedia: Penstemon gracilis

Protocol

DerivedN. C. Deno, 1993

Difficulty Moderate Rated by us, not by the source.

  1. Sow outdoors and leave it

    Sown outdoors in January; up in April.

No stated waiting before sowing. Then 90 days to germinate.

62% germination in 90 days.

Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. — N. C. Deno, 1993 · Ch. 20, Penstemon p. 187Public domain
Show the original text
Penstemon (Scrophulariaceae). Four types of germination were observed. Most Rocky Mountain species of a perennial nature germ. largely at 40 and often sowing at 70 was fatal or near fatal. A second group are short lived species that can flower the first year from seed typified by P. gracilis seed sown outdoors in January germ. 62% in April. Seed sown at 70 or 40 failed to germinate.
Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed., Ch. 20, Penstemon p. 187. Quoted exactly. Every value on this card comes from this record, except the difficulty rating, which is ours; the step names come from a fixed list.

How each step is done, in Deno’s words, and what Verified and Derived mean.

Germination trials

Readers’ own records of sowing this species, published after review. Share your trial · All trials

Add to My Garden

View species page