Penstemon Festival

It starts Friday, 5 June at 7pm. The program will be at our home just west of the greenhouses at Great Basin Natives 75 West 300 South. If you are coming in on I-15, take exit 174. follow the road into Holden and turn west on 300 South. We are looking forward to seeing you. Saturday we will meet here so we can leave at 8:30 am. It will take about 25 minutes to drive to the Cal Valley Road where there are five different penstemons and many other wild flowers. We will meet back at the city park just east of the church for lunch. After lunch we will come back to the nursery to see the penstemons and other native plants there. There will a free penstemon and a free native annual for every one. Thanks

Penstemons 2009

This morning, Robert and I visited the wild flowers on both sides of the Cal Valley Road. This is where we will be going on the penstemon festival June 6, 2009. The Program Friday night will feature a slide show of the penstemons pictured and the other wild flowers at this location. Pictured are the different penstemons that we will see.
P. comarrhenus, is not blooming. Pictured is a 2008 photo
P. eatonii
P. humilis
P. confusus
P. tidestromii
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The unknown penstemon is P. Humilis

Erigeron flagellaris TRAILING DAISY

This is an amazing plant. The photo is looking down on the plant that is in a Terra cotta pot. It is a nice ground cover that has been growing in full sun. It sends out runners in all directions which root in as they grow. Under cultivation it is green all summer. After runner root in they will soon flower. The flowers close at night and then open again. The are flowers and emerging buds on the same plant. Flowers are on top of six inch leaf less stems.

Penstemon watsonii

The seed from this particular penstemon was collected near the top of West Mountain west of Payson, Utah. I found this plant in 1989. There was only one large penstemon in the area. It was surrounded by sage brush. The mountain is very dry, so I thought the plant is unique. There was a lot of seed the first time I went back. I planted some in the fall and got good germination. I got some nice plants. and planted one. It did not survive to the next summer. I found the seed some years later and planted a thousand seeds or so. No germination. The next year I planted most of the seed and got two plants. One is pictured here. Last fall I planted the rest of the seed. I have about five plants. I hope to use these plants for seed production of this very drought tolerant penstemon. I have not not looked for the original plant for about five years. If it is still there, it will be at least twenty years old. I hope to see it this summer. I have to go when it is blooming and again to collect some seed.

Unknown

The penstemon is blooming. Robert may be here today and he will be able to key it out. It is about eight inches tall.