I was totally excited last year to discover Penstemon ramaleyi at Agua Fria nursery in Santa Fe last year. Intensely blue flowers and lots of them. Yep, that goes right up my alley (it's good to know that some things are predictable, eh?). After planting out, the plants grew quite vigorously, and bloomed again. This is an amazing feat for a penstemon, especially for a species penstemon in my blazingly hot yard. So later in the year I planted another, although a pretty pathetic looking specimen having grown in a 2-1/4 inch pot for most of the spring and summer.
This past winter, the plants looked a bit shabby, and although they originate in Colorado, I was concerned whether they would live. Then, while doing a bit of garden maintenance I accidentally knocked off quite a large branch from the largest of the plants. This was surprising, since I was actually being quite careful. Testing the broken branch, I found it to be quite brittle. The smallest plant that was planted late, had never grown much, and was clearly dead to the ground. Compared to Penstemon linarioides, which, as you know I love so much that it is my banner photo, the winter appearance was disappointing.
With the first of the warm weather however, shoots burst out of the stems, and the first blooms opened several weeks ago. The plant I thought was dead has sent out a few vigorous stems, although they are not blooming. Although the flowers are small (1/2" wide by 1" long), the plants are quite charming, and they have enough flowers to make a nice show.
Definitely worth having. If you do plant them, keep in mind to plant in the spring (not summer), and be aware that the branches are quite brittle - don't plant where there are dogs or where there might be an inadvertent footfall or you will be very sad.
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