Penstemon Apple Blossom - Beardtongue

Penstemon 'Apple Blossom' is a charming perennial that is covered in small candy pink flowers throughout summer, creating a bright pastel pink mist in sunny flower beds and rock gardens. They are produced in abundance on a well-branched plant with semi-evergreen foliage. While not very hardy, it is nonetheless economical and not demanding in terms of soil. Absolutely delightful in the garden or planted in a pot on a patio. It is also a very attractive plant for not too dry rockeries.

'Apple Blossom' is a bushy and woody perennial plant belonging to the Plantaginaceae family, just like foxgloves and snapdragons. It is an old horticultural hybrid resulting from the cross-breeding of several wild species, mostly native to Central America and mountainous areas of western North America. This variety quickly forms beautiful bushy and upright clumps, reaching 70cm (28in) in height and 40cm (16in) in width. Its vegetation consists of branched stems covered in abundant deep green foliage, which is finely lanceolate. It will persist on the plant depending on the severity of the winter. The flowering period extends from June to September-October, provided that faded flower spikes are regularly removed. The flowers develop at the terminal part of the leafy stems. The small bell-shaped flowers, 2.5cm (1in) long, are clustered together. They display a delicate pastel pink colour with a slightly deeper pink at the tips of the lobes, and reveal a pearly white throat marked by light crimson streaks. Being a mountainous plant, it does not tolerate excessively calcareous and clayey soils, or hot and very dry summers.

'Apple Blossom' is perfect in flower beds or borders, among perennials such as agapanthus, Alchemilla mollis, caryopteris, Verbena bonariensis, catmints, or mixed with annuals such as love-in-a-mist or a lovely grass like Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum', for example. It will blend in between the stones of a not too dry rockery (and in light soil enriched with compost) with cotton lavenders, butterfly lavenders, wall bellflowers, or Lithodora diffusa. Its association with a shrubby sage with blue flowers like 'Salvia Blue Note' is absolutely exquisite, both in the garden and on a patio. Its pastel pink flowers are also enhanced by dark foliage of Weigela 'Minor Black' or Physocarpus 'Summer Wine'. It performs very well in pots with proper drainage: provide fertiliser and regular watering with low-limestone water. Penstemons also make excellent cut flowers.