Penstemon George Home (Beardtongue)

Free flowering and vigorous, award-winning Penstemon ‘George Home’ is a bushy perennial boasting showy, funnel-shaped, broadly flared, bright cerise flowers, 1 in. long (2.5 cm), with contrasting white mouths and throats.

Free flowering and vigorous, award-winning Penstemon 'George Home' is a bushy perennial boasting showy, funnel-shaped, broadly flared, bright cerise flowers, 1 in. long (2.5 cm), with contrasting white mouths and throats. They rise elegantly above a foliage mound of narrow, dark green leaves. A lovely way to add long-lasting, cheerful color to the border.

  • On display from late summer through fall, this Penstemon grows vigorously to 28 in. tall (70 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 bedsborderscottage gardenscity 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 soils including dry soils. 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 die back in the winter.
  • Attracts scores of hummingbirdsbutterflies 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

Requirements

Hardiness 6
– 9

Heat Zones 1
– 9

Climate Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Plant Type Perennials
Plant Family Penstemon – Beardtongues
Exposure Full Sun, Partial Sun
Season of Interest Summer (Late)Fall
Height 2'
– 3'
(60cm
– 90cm)
Spread 1'
– 2'
(30cm
– 60cm)
Spacing 24″ (60cm)
Water Needs Low
Maintenance Low
Soil Type Chalk, Loam, Sand
Soil pH Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil Drainage Well-Drained
Characteristics Cut Flowers, Plant of Merit, Showy, Semi-Evergreen
Tolerance Deer, Drought, Rabbit, Dry Soil, Salt
Attracts Butterflies, Hummingbirds
Garden Uses Beds and Borders, Wall-Side Borders
Garden Styles Coastal Garden, Informal and Cottage, Prairie and Meadow, Traditional Garden