Penstemon digitalis
Penstemon digitalis or Smooth Beardtongue as it is commonly called has been in my garden for three years now. The white blooms have just a hint of purple in the throat. It’s a hummingbird magnet in the shade garden. The basal foliage is evergreen which makes finding it a piece of cake in spring. It’s suppose to be a prolific reseeder but I haven’t had that happen in my garden yet.
Dicentra eximia 'alba'
Another white blooming native is Dicentra eximia ‘Alba’ or the Fernleaf Bleeding Heart. It is a more prolific bloomer than the cultivar Dicentra spectabilis, and is much smaller in size. Mine is combined with Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ in the shade garden. The silvery white mottling compliments the white heart shaped blooms.
Perennial Garden Lover 
Posted by Janet, The Queen of Seaford on May 11, 2011 at 10:08 am
I do like Penstomons — I am looking longingly at a Husker Red.
How does the Brunnera do in your garden? I thought it would be too hot for them in 7b
Husker Red is a nice cultivar from what I’ve heard Janet. I also have ‘Pikes Peak Purple’ and it likes full sun. The Brunnera does really well in my shady garden, it needs alittle extra water in the summer if we have a drought but that’s okay. 🙂
Posted by Gail on May 11, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Racquel, I love the red foliage and the hint of lilac to the Husker red flower. it has reseeded in my garden, but, not as freely as Penstemon X. gail
Me too Gail. I’ll have to try and find Penstemon X for my garden. 🙂
Posted by Jennifer@threedogsinagarden on May 11, 2011 at 5:32 pm
I was interested to read about the differences between bleeding heart varieties. I so love the one that I have that I would love to have another perhaps different variety.
Their an interesting species Jennifer, I hope you add more types soon. 🙂
Posted by Cameron (Defining Your Home) on May 11, 2011 at 7:55 pm
Your natives are so lovely! I adore penstemons, but it has been years since I’ve had them. They didn’t last very long in my garden.
Thanks Cameron. I have two that have survived 3 years now and this one has just gotten bigger and better with time. It gets morning sun only and seems to be happy with that situation. 🙂
Posted by Cameron (Defining Your Home) on May 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm
You were right about the comments on my blog —
Blogger (blogspot) had an outage this week and seemed to not have backed up/restored the latest comments after the outage. The blogspot is free, so I can’t complain!
That’s what I figured Cameron, since every blogger blog I visited was giving the same error message. 🙂
Posted by Kathleen on May 11, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Those are two lovely white natives Racquel. I have neither but I like them both.
Thanks Kathleen. You should consider adding one or both of these pretty natives. 🙂
Posted by Nell Jean on May 11, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Lovely, just lovely. We have a little blue penstemon here that was wonderful last year in the wild. It hardly has any blooms this year. Every year different.
Every year is definitely different here too Nell Jean, it all depends on whether we have a wet spring or a dry summer. 🙂
Posted by Susie on May 11, 2011 at 10:03 pm
I have Husker Red just now starting to bloom. I’ve tried bleeding hearts before but didn’t have much success with them. I see you don’t have much trouble with them.
Hope you post pics when it blooms Susie. They aren’t too hard as long as you give them afternoon shade here. 🙂
Posted by tina on May 12, 2011 at 7:03 am
Those hairs on the beardtongue are way cool.
Thanks Tina, I didn’t even notice them until you mentioned it. lol 😉
Posted by Penstemon Grandiflorus | Find Me A Cure on December 14, 2014 at 9:35 am
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