Showy penstemon easily grows in Inland Empire gardens in full sun and with low amounts of summer water. The chart shown below provides a recommended baseline guide to the monthly irrigation schedule and volume of supplemental water needed to maintain healthy growth throughout the average year. It should be noted there are several months indicated by an asterisk (*) when winter rains can provide sufficient moisture and irrigation is not needed. The high and low range of moisture indicates Showy penstemon can grow with varying amounts of water; established plants need little summer irrigation.
|
Jan* |
Feb* |
Mar* |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov* |
Dec* |
Runs per Month |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
1x |
0x to 2x |
0x to 2x |
Inches per Run |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
|
Inches per Month |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
0″ to 2″ |
0″ to 2″ |
Range of supplemental summer water: 7"
Range of supplemental winter water: 0"-10"
|
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
1″ |
0″-2″ |
0″-2″ |
|
Jan* |
Feb* |
Mar* |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov* |
Dec* |
For more information on how to use this Irrigation Schedule and Graph, follow this link.
For information how to calculate your irrigation system’s schedule and precipitation rate, please follow this link.
Remove dead flower stalks after flowering in late Spring or Summer (1). Consider leaving some stocks on established plants to develop seed for wildlife food and for “volunteers” to develop in the landscape (S)
Showy penstemon is a very tough locally native plant, but may look quite dormant in summer if left dry. If you think the plant is dead, and are not sure, cut back some and wait until cooler weather to see if it begins to grow again. If all the stems are completely dry and brittle though, it is likely dead.
Individual plants often only live for a few years in gardens, so it is best used as an accent plant. However, if the seed is left to develop and dry out before cutting back, showy penstemon will often lightly “self seed” in the garden, so you will still have this species present in your yard. Further encourage this by leaving your trimmings of showy penstemon in the yard to become part of the natural mulch layer. You can leave the stocks long or cut them up. The semi-hollow stems might also eventually be used as nesting sites for some of the native, non-stinging, bees that lay their eggs in hollow stems (S).
References