Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’ (Foxglove Beardtongue)

Award-winner Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’ is a bushy perennial with erect, deep wine-red stems boasting about 50 large, bell-shaped, white flowers with a touch of light pink, 1 in. long (2.5 cm). They rise above a particularly handsome, lush foliage of lance-shaped, rich, bronze-red leaves. ‘Husker Red’ is a versatile garden perennial as a specimen, or as a cut flower.

• On display from late spring through early summer, this Penstemon grows vigorously to 30-36 in. tall (75-90 cm) and 15-18 in. wide (37-45 cm) and adds lovely vertical lines to the landscape. 
• 1996 Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year
• Provides a bold and striking impact in beds, borders, cottage gardens, rock gardens, or in prairie plantings. Ideal for naturalistic planting schemes. Good as cut flowers too!
• Best grown in full sun in fertile, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils. Tolerates almost any soil including dry soil. Drought tolerant once established. Dislikes damp conditions and needs excellent drainage! Penstemons need very little water and barely any fertilizer. Fertilize lightly when planting and then never again. Over-fertilizing Penstemons leads to excessive dieback in the winter.
• Attracts scores of hummingbirds, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators but is resistant to deer and rabbits.
• Generally disease free. May be attacked by slugs, snails, glasshouse red spider mite, and leaf and bud eelworms
• Propagate by seed, but the offspring will be variable, often with flowers of a murky shade. Propagate by softwood cuttings in early summer or semi-ripe stem tip cuttings in late summer to early autumn. Divide clumps in spring
• Tidy any winter-damaged growth in early spring. Deadhead after flowering (unless the seed is needed)