Penstemon Firebird
Penstemon Firebird puts on a great show of red flowers. The plants are at their best for two to three years but they do a tremendous job of quickly filling in a young garden or a newly opened space. I trim off the dead flowers and cut Penstemon Firebird back heavily in the late winter. If the plants air-layer on their own they can extend their lifespan significantly. The Penstemon gloxinoides group will take temperatures down to 10° F. I have sometimes had trouble with mites and have cut off the affected portions to fairly good success. Penstemon Firebird is a potential larval food source for the Variable Checkerspot and Common Buckeye Butterfly and could be a nice addition to your butterfly garden.
Dark red flowers of Penstemon Firebird. High resolution photos are part of our garden image collection.
Other Penstemons featured on this site:
Keckiella antirrhinoides * Yellow Bush Penstemon
Keckiella breviflora * Yawning Penstemon
Keckiella cordifolia * Heartleaf Penstemon
Keckiella ternata * Blue Stemmed Penstemon
Penstemon Apple Blossom
Penstemon Burgundy Brew
Penstemon centranthifolius * Scarlet Bugler
Penstemon cobaea
Penstemon eatonii
Penstemon Evelyn
Penstemon grinnellii
Penstemon heterophyllus
Penstemon Hidcote Pink
Penstemon Holly's White
Penstemon Husker Red
Penstemon Margarita BOP
Penstemon Midnight
Penstemon palmeri
Penstemon parryi
Penstemon Raven
Penstemon Red Rocks
Penstemon spectabilis
Penstemon triflorus
The closely related Keckiella cordifolia is appropriate for this list as well