Penstemon digitalis Husker Red - Foxglove beardtongue

The Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red' is a hardy perennial with spectacular purple foliage and exquisite white-pink trumpet-shaped flowers. It will bring grace, lightness, and sumptuous colours to your sunny flower beds.

Penstemons, with their harmonious bushy and compact silhouette, are essential perennial plants in the garden, thanks to their opulent summer flowering and cheerful country style. The Penstemon digitalis, also known as Beardtongue, belongs to the Scrophulariaceae family (recently changed to Plantaginaceae). 'Husker Red' is a particularly ornamental variety hardy to severe cold. This Penstemon forms an erect bushy clump, measuring 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28in), with a spread of about 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20in). This semi-evergreen shrub with brown-purple leaves carries long clusters of tubular flowers, widely open with unevenly lobed lips. Very floriferous, it displays its flower spikes, with slightly pinkish-white flowers, above its magnificent foliage, thus revealing a superb colour contrast. This long and abundant flowering can sometimes cause the stems to bend under the weight of the flowers. It is advisable to pinch the branches during the growing season to counteract this inconvenience. This results in shorter and straighter flowering stems, with only a slightly delayed flowering.

Digitalis Penstemons prefer fertile, well-drained and rather dry soils in sunny locations. Extremely hardy, this 'Husker Red' variety excels in wild-looking flower gardens. This Penstemon is perfect in flower beds, mixed borders, flower borders, rock gardens, or even grown in pots. Its flowers will also make beautiful bouquets. Harmoniously blending into summer flower beds or rock gardens can be paired with perennial plants and annuals. It will combine beautifully with lady's mantle, perennial geraniums, and colourful heucheras, for example, but also with phlox, gauras, yarrows, phlomis, as well as with Verbascums. Leave a space of 50 cm (20in) around the Penstemon, as it does not like competition from other roots.