Penstemon Firebird (Beardtongue)

Bold and sumptuous, award-winning Penstemon 'Firebird' or 'Schoenholzeri' is a bushy semi-evergreen perennial with erect wine-red stems boasting large, bell-shaped, crimson flowers, 1.5 in. across (3.5 cm), revealing a white throat with pale pink stripes. They rise above the lush foliage of lance-shaped, deep green leaves. A floriferous, vigorous, and fast-growing variety that is excellent in pots and containers as well as directly in the garden.

• On display from midsummer through fall, this Penstemon grows vigorously to 3 ft. tall (90 cm) and 2 ft. wide (60 cm) and adds lovely vertical lines to the landscape. 
• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society
• 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 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