PENSTEMON 'PURPLE PASSION'

I love the elegance of Penstemons, the way the tubular flowers adorn the long flower stems, and the way they don't take up to much room.  I have bought about six for my garden this year.  Two are small varieties (Heavenly Blue and Pina Colada White) and are planted at the front of my home where the golden yellow Arthur Bell roses grow.  The others are among the perennials in the border at the back.  Unfortunately, when I bought three Penstemons  from the Royal Horticultural Society, the labels were glued to the pots.  As I had no marker pen to write labels, I made the big mistake of thinking I would easily be able to discern one from the other and even (this is a laugh) remember which I put where!  I am pretty certain, though, memory having failed, that this is Penstemon 'Purple Passion' which I have been able to identify from its white throat. 

Penstemon 'Purple Passion' and the tiny Heuchera flowers.

I grow Penstemon 'Purple Passion' at the lower part of my garden's south-facing border.  My garden is very small but don't be fooled into thinking that in a small garden, choice of position doesn't ever matter.  My garden is on a slope and the lower part is much more moist, naturally, than the area at the top of my garden.  The soil is richer too.  Even so, all the Penstemons have taken, including the two at the front of my home.  I have a concern though; not all are fully hardy.



The label on the pot says that Purple Passion is a "Bressingham raised selection that forms a neat bush of mid-green, waxy leaves and stems bearing large purple-velvet flowers with a distinctive white throat.  It achieves a height of 60-80cm (24in-32in) and flowers July to September".



'Purple Passion' tolerates shade but likes full sun, and isn't too picky about type of soil—my soil varies between normal and a little acid.  It has a long flowering period and mine, right now, is in full bloom. 



I have had to stake the stems, which are quite rigid, to stop them falling over under the weight of the flowers which are heavier still when it rains.