Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Common name: RED ROCKS® penstemon

Family: Plantaginaceae (Plantain)

Distribution: Cultivated

Hardiness: USDA Zone 4 (-30 to -20 °F)

Life form: Herbaceous perennial

Occurrence in New Mexico: Cultivar

Growing Conditions: In general, penstemons need dry, gritty, gravelly or sandy soils; however, this hybrid is highly adaptable, as long as the soil is well draining. It should be planted in full sun or with morning sun and afternoon shade. A regular watering schedule in the first year helps plants to become established. They are very drought tolerant when established and need only occasional watering, but supplemental watering produces the greatest blooming. To increase longevity, plants should be deadheaded and pruned hard in early spring. This hybrid must be propagated vegetatively.

Description: Mexicali penstemons are hybrids of less-hardy Mexican species that have large, showy flowers and native North American species that confer vigor and cold-hardiness. This hybrid forms a mound 1-2 feet tall and wide. It has narrow, lance-shaped, glossy green leaves. Numerous rosy-pink, open, trumpet-shaped flowers with white, pink-striped throats are borne on spikes up to 3 feet tall. The plants flower throughout the summer with adequate water. RED ROCKS® is propagated by cuttings; it readily self-seeds but seedlings may not be true to variety color.