Penstemon baccharifolius 5b looking quite like our native

looking quite like our native Abies fraseri

The 5' tall spikes open just as the foliage emerges in early May (NC) from light yellow buds to pure white flowers

where it was collected by Czech plantsman

both in the ground and in a container

Penstemon baccharifolius 5b looking quite like our nativeWe fell in love with the Texas endemic Penstemon baccharifolius back in the 1980s, but all our early attempts to grow it were met with failure, due to our lack of understanding its xeric (super dry) nature. In the wild, it grows in limestone crevices, so it's not advisable to even utter the word "water" in its presence. Once we built our crevice garden with near perfect drainage, rock beard tongue has become a long lived garden staple. Unlike many