Beardlip Penstemon
Penstemon barbatus
Slender wands of scarlet tubular flowers with a bearded lower lip bloom into summer, built for hummingbird pollination. A brilliant, drought-tough mountain wildflower.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–3 ft
- Spacing
- 1–1.5 ft apart
- Light
- part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- red
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, hummingbirds
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~8 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- border
- Native states
- AZ, CA, CO, NM, TX, UT
Related native plants
More Penstemon species
- Large Beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus)
- Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
- Cobaea Beardtongue (Penstemon cobaea)
- Scarlet Bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius)
- Palmer's Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri)
- Showy Penstemon (Penstemon spectabilis)