New and Tried & True Plant Combinations #1

Our Spring 2018 plant sale events are in full swing and we're offering 100's of amazing new and tried & true perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, cacti and succulents. We're be showcasing interesting plant combinations you can use as inspiration designing a small space or an entire garden.

Do you have a hot dry area in your garden? Of course you do, so take a look at this combination of Penstemon superbus, Salvia pachyphylla 'Blue Flame' and Penstemon strictus.

Superb Beardtongue (Penstemon superbus) has glowing coral-orange flowers that make this Southwestern beardtongue a standout in the mid-spring garden. Out of flower, the plant has handsome evergreen foliage. Like most all Penstemon, it does best in poor, fast draining soils (no clay) in full sun where it gets plenty of heat. Deadhead after blooming, but leave some of the flowers spikes on the plant to ripen their seed and encourage re-seeding. Best grown where it can be planted with other water-wise, spring-blooming natives. 24" tall x 24-30" wide

Salvia pachyphylla 'Blue Flame' is a selection of the xeric sub-shrub Giant Purple Sage, chosen for its huge, brightly colored 10"+ long flowering spikes. Like a gas flame, the long tubular blue flowers poke through the rose-pink bracts attracting hummingbirds from the entire neighborhood. To help support the huge flower spikes, it's helpful to pinch back the tips of the new shoots in mid-spring to thicken up the plant. This beauty likes full sun, good air circulation, and fast draining soil conditions. 24" tall x 24-30" wide

Penstemon strictus is a native beardtongue of the foothills and mountains of the southern Rockies, this plant grows easily over a wide range of the western U.S. The tall showy spikes of intense blue-purple flowers last for over a month in late spring. Spreading steadily via stolons to form large clumps, Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus) is one of the longest-lived, most easily grown of the Penstemons. A real show stopper! Cut off flowering spikes after bloom; leave a few if reseeding is desirable. 24" tall x 36" wide

#salvia #hotdrygardens #penstemonbarbatus