great with the helianthemum

That is truly an amazing Penstemon color, Kat! I checked, and we used to sell P. mensarum when I was at Paulino's, but I don't remember ever seeing any blooming--and I WOULD remember a "blue" perennial that is actually blue!

A couple common names for it are Shale Penstemon and Grand Mesa Penstemon, so my guess would be that your's most likely died because your soil is "heavier" than it needs. Based on the common names I'd assume it prefers a very porous, sandy/gravely soil with little moisture, and lots of sun. Truly xeric! If you ever get up to the Denver neck of the woods, Timberline would be the most likely place to find it--Kelly LOVES Penstemon and other native and xeric perennials. (He does have a perennial list on his site if you ever want to see if it's listed!)

I love perennials that are truly blue! Right now my Gentiana septemfida, Everyman's Gentian is the only one I have!

Skybird

Hi Skylark!

I just checked the soil where my mensarum used to be, and although it has some decomposing mulch in it,it is definitely well drained - like the majority of my yard!. I'm thinking that it may have been a bad site for it. It was right next to my Penstemon strictus, and it think they may have crowded it out by them. If I find it again I think I'll put it off by itself, if I can find someplace like that in my jungle! :) By the way, High Country Gardens calls it Blue Lipped Penstemon. The problem with common names!, unfortunately they are not selling it this year or I would have ordered some.

I tried growing Gentian once and had no luck. What kind of soil/moisture level/sun does yours have? If it is heavy soil, I am out of luck. I'll do a google search on it.

Kat

Hi Skylark!

I just checked the soil where my mensarum used to be, and although it has some decomposing mulch in it,it is definitely well drained - like the majority of my yard! I'm thinking that it may have been a bad site for it. It was right next to my Penstemon strictus, and it think it may have crowded it out by them. If I find it again I think I'll put it off by itself, if I can find someplace like that in my jungle! :) By the way, High Country Gardens calls it Blue Lipped Penstemon. The problem with common names! Unfortunately they are not selling it this year or I would have ordered some.

I tried growing Gentian once and had no luck. What kind of soil/moisture level/sun does yours have? If it is heavy soil, I am out of luck. I'll do a google search on it.

Kat

Sorry for the double post. :(

Hi Kat,

I'm not talking so much about how drainable your soil is, I'm talking more about "shale" Penstemon needing a very loose "gravely" or "pebbly" soil. So, something very rocky that the water pretty much runs "straight thru!" I suspect this is one case where organic matter is not a particularly good thing! The other common name, Grand Mesa Penstemon kind of says the same thing! A loose combination of small gravel, sand, and wind blown silty clay. The kind of thing you're not gonna find in an "always adding organic matter" yard! Not sure what to tell you if you decide to try it again. There are a lot of "native" Penstemons that are never gonna do well in a "normal" residential yard. We used to get "native" plants in from a guy who liked to grow that kind of thing, and they'd be planted in a "soil" that was mostly coarse sand and tiny gravel. I doubt that they lived for most of the people who bought them and planted them in their "normal" soil, even if they had "good" soil! Things like that are things that you need to start a whole separate "rock garden" kind of area with the kind of soil they want. I love the color, and I thought about looking for one, but I don't have anywhere to plant it where I think there's any chance at all of it surviving. Might need to just keep looking at your pic!

If you want to try gentian again, the one I have is the easiest to grow--that's why it's called "everyman's gentian!" Look for Gentiana septemfida and give it a try. Mine is in pretty heavy clay, and it doesn't get much bigger every year, but it grows and blooms nicely--late summer. I tried another one of the gentians and it didn't make it at all! Start with the septemfida! I suspect that one would do better than mine in a more organic soil!

Skybird

That's a good point, and may explain why my Penstemon in general (I have numerous varieties) aren't doing quite as well as I would like - with the obvious exception of the strictus. The other matte variety that i have been less than successful with is the Elfin Pinks. I do dearly love Penstemon though.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to seamlessly add a "rock garden" to my design, so I may just have to limp along as best as possible. The varieties that seem to do best are what I tend to think of as my "matte" Penstemon such as rondo and another deep purple one that a friend gave me but I haven't ID'd. The Mexicali varieties do well for a while, then peter out. Oddly enough though, the mensarum was also a matte type, so I'm at a bit of a loss.

Come to think of it though, I do have a raised circular bed that I planned to use as an herb garden but haven't kept up. I suppose I could conceivably turn that into a rock garden. Interesting thought....