Penstemons
Gardeners World|September 2019

These perennials produce a colourful display of foxglove-like blooms until late autumn

Graham Rice
Penstemons

Plants that mingle well with their neighbours are invaluable, not only in today’s smaller gardens but in larger and more sweeping plantings, too. And high on the list of first-class minglers must be penstemons.

Their long flowering season is a big help, so from June to September, and often almost into winter, those spikes of colourful blooms just keep coming. The flowering stems stand upright, half their length lined with bold, trumpet-shaped flowers, and they happily merge with their neighbours, giving support, creating interesting associations of colour and form, their pointed, glossy foliage always in harmony.

This story is from the September 2019 edition of Gardeners World.

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This story is from the September 2019 edition of Gardeners World.

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