Penstemons are known for surviving in harsh conditions while keeping their beauty

While you can often find Billie Moore painting flowers, it's not hard to see which one she favors the most.

It's the penstemon, of course, for its enduring and long-lived nature.

"It's a survivor," Moore says.

Penstemons are an essential plant for the landscape, thriving in harsh, dry conditions with the ability to be a stunning beauty in wildflower paintings, as well.

About this plant

Beardtongue, as penstemon is commonly known, is a western United States native with colorful tubular flowers on tall spikes.

A handout that Moore uses when giving talks reveals the following about penstemons:

* Are related to snapdragon and monkey flower.

* Belong to the figwort family - one of the largest plant genus endemic to North America.

* Have over 220 varieties identified and classified from Alaska to Guatemala, coast to coast.

* Flower colors include white, yellow (though rare), blue, pink, magenta and red, all with lighter-colored throats.

* Blooms attract butterflies, bees, wasps, moths, flies and hummingbirds, pollinators that benefit from its long blooming season of early to mid summer.

* Plant size ranges from clumps less than a foot tall and across, to bush-like clumps 3 to 4 feet high and equally as wide, depending on the variety.

* Look best planted in groups. Shorter varieties in the front of the border or rock garden, taller varieties combined in wildflower plantings or at the back of the border.

n Distinguishing feature - corolla (mouth) has 2-lobed upper lip and a 3-lobed lower lip.

Garden environment

According to Moore, there is a penstemon for just about every garden environment, with the exception of very soggy clay soil or deep shade.

"The one thing they don't like is wet feet," Moore says.

Many varieties do very well in a xeriscape (low-water) environment. They aren't fond of heavy mulch, require minimal fertilizer, and other than deadheading, their minimal maintenance endears them to gardeners.

Moore hand waters her penstemons once a week, deadheads after they quit blooming and remarks that no other care (or water) is needed for the rest of the summer.

Advantages of growing penstemons are:

* Easy care/low maintenance

* Good for cut flowers

* Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies

* Tolerates dry soil

Basic cultivation

Site selection can be just about anywhere that has sun and well-drained soil. Give them plenty of room as penstemons don't like to be crowded. (Space plants 1 to 3 feet apart, depending on their width at maturity.)

"They are said to prefer a mildly acidic soil, although I have never been fussy about testing my soil, and have them all over my property," Moore says.

Moore's tips for planting include:

1. Start with moist soil in suitable location.

2. Dig hole a few inches more in diameter than the root ball.

3. Fill hole with water and allow to absorb - while you minimally loosen the root ball; fill in with loosened soil - being careful not to cover the crown of the plant.

4. Plant will require very little water for a week or two, providing it is not a very hot dry period.

5. Do not overwater!

After they are done blooming:

1. If you deadhead regularly, the penstemon will bloom all summer into fall.

2. If you are a seed saver, leave a stalk or two for seed production.

3. "Do not cut back in the fall, leave intact until mid-April, then cut back to about six inches above the ground," Moore says.

4. Clumps may be divided in spring, taking shovelfuls from the perimeter of the clump.

5. Penstemons are easily started from cuttings by simply laying stem, when still attached to the mother plant, along the ground and staked down. Roots form at each node. When rooted, separate and plant elsewhere or pot.

6. Growing from seed is relatively easy in pots. (The seedlings are so tiny that it is almost impossible to start them outside in the garden. Bugs and slugs eat them as soon as they sprout.)

7. "Said to germinate better if put in the refrigerator for a couple weeks before planting, but mine did fine without chilling," Moore says.

Penstemon resources

Check out some excellent on line resources:

The American Penstemon Society www.penstemon.org

American Hort Society www.ahs.org

Wild Ginger Farm (www.wildgingerfarm.com) in Beavercreek, Oregon. Features excellent photos of local native varieties.

" Favorite book - "Growing Penstemon: Species, Cultivars, and Hybrids" by Ellen Wilde and Dale Lindgren. $17.95

Native vs. hybrid

Most of the penstemons Moore grows are 'native' varieties because they are hardier than hybrids. However, she reserves space in her garden for hybrids as well because they are much larger and showier. During last winter's cold snap several of her big fancy ones succumbed, whereas the smaller 'natives' survived.

There are thousands of varieties of penstemons and almost all hybridization takes place in Europe.

Moore's front border is trimmed in "Electric Blue", a smaller early penstemon that can range from 12 to 18 inches.

Other varieties on the border include a local native "Rocky Mountain" (blue-violet) and "Garnet" (red) combined in wildflower fashion in her garden that bloom in early June. Then along comes penstemon barbatus (spreading form with pink and red blooms whose flower spikes can get 4 to 6 feet that may require staking) and purple "Sour Grapes" (2 feet high by 18 inches wide) in mid-June.

The leaves of penstemon range from vivid grass green to gray green needle like foliage (penstemon pinifolius).

Moore also grows "Picotee," a true hybrid with fancy red blooms and white throat that can range from 12 to 15 inches tall. Plus she also has a 3 foot by 3 foot "Apple Blossom" that just started blooming in mid July - with light pink blooms that last until frost.)

Most penstemons prefer some sun. However, "Firebird" and "Huskers Red" will do well in filtered shade. If grown in the bright sun its leaves and stems turn dark reddish/brown, providing good color contrast in mixed beds with other hardy perennials.