Why I Oughta...

Last Fall, I planted a three-pack of Penstemon Midnight Masquerade in the conifer garden IB2DWs and talked about how I needed to keep going (out of my comfort zone) with flowers.  There was a lot to like about these perennials - they're drought tolerant, can handle heat and humidity, full of dark foliage and bloom purple and white flowers.  When I bought them, they were past bloom-time, so that flower part was taken on faith. This Spring, I marked their reemergence for their first Spring in early April when new foliage clumps came back from dormancy .   I topped this part of the bed with some big box mulch (not leaf mulch...) and mostly moved on in the gardening season.  Until this week.  When these things started to bloom.   Have a look at my three one-year-old Midnight Masquerade Penstemons ( or Beardtongue ) with their showy light purple and white clusters of flowers: This spot is full sun and is part of what I've always called the 'hard to grow' section.  The thick

One of the hidden gems from last Fall's planting sprint is going to be the three Midnight Masquerade Penstemons that I bought at the big box nursery end-of-season sale.  I tucked them into the IB2DWs Conifer garden - along the property line.  And, they didn't do much last year before going dormant.  But, they appear to be semi-evergreen with the foliage sticking around in some form all Winter.  This Spring, they have put on some new growth that is purple and green.  See below for the current state of these three natives:  This spot is loaded with biosolids, so I'll need to top the bed off with mulch this Spring to avoid some of that turf from coming back and/or to suppress weed pressure.  And, cleanup the back edge of that bed while I'm at it.   I'll also be watching these for height - with their plant tag saying they'll get 36 to 40 inches tall, so that back-of-bed location might be perfect.