Common Name: Large-flowered Beardtongue

Latin Name: Penstemon grandiflorus

Height: 2-3 feet tall

Duration: Perennial

Bloom Color: Violet, Pink

Bloom Time: May-June

Water Use: Medium-Dry, Dry

Soil: Dry, well-drained, and poor soil containing rocky material or sand. Subject to root rot from poorly drained soil. Is drought resistant.

Light Requirement: Full Sun, Partial Sun

Spreads via seeds.

Host Plant: Caterpillars of a moth, Elaphria chalcedonia (Chalcedony Midget), and Spharagemon collare (Mottled Sand Grasshopper).

Pollinators: Bumblebees and other long-tongued bees.   An unusual wasp, Pseudomaris occidentalis, is a specialist pollinator (oligolege) of Penstemon spp.

Other Information:  Short-lived perennial, however, its seeds are fairly easy to germinate. The plant forms a basal rosette during its first year, after which it produces one or more flowering stalks about 1-3½' tall from a thick rootstock.

Large Carpenter Bees perforates the base of the corolla from the outside to rob nectar.

Within the throat of the corolla, there are fine purple veins that function as nectar guides.