Penstemon Alice Hindley (Beardtongue)

Taller than most Penstemons, award-winning Penstemon 'Alice Hindley' is a bushy semi-evergreen perennial boasting incredibly pretty, bell-shaped, pale mauve flowers with contrasting white throats. They rise elegantly above a foliage mound of rather large, ovate, mid-green leaves. A lovely way to add long-lasting, cheerful color to the border.

• On display from mid-summer through fall, this Penstemon grows vigorously to 36-40 in. tall (90-100 cm) and 18-24 in. wide (45-60 cm) and adds lovely vertical lines to the landscape. 
• Winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society for its noteworthy qualities.
• Provides a bold and striking impact in beds, borders, cottage gardens, city gardens, or in coastal gardens. Ideal for naturalistic planting schemes. Good as cut flowers too!
• Best grown in full sun or partial shade, 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 softwood cuttings in early summer or semi-hardwood cuttings in midsummer. Propagate by division in spring.
• Deadhead after flowering to maintain vigor. Then cut back to base in early spring