A penstemon query if you please

Re-vamped the garden last year and bought several different penstemon. Took loads of cuttings with about 97% success rate. Healthy plants now in the ground, but only King George V is flowering. Of Pensham Laura, Evelyn, Vesuvius, Alice Hindley, Fujiyama and Sour Grapes there is no sign. They have been fed, but not mulched and on my light sandy soil, are watered frequently. Most get all-day sun, others sun for much of the day, but there seems no difference in their desire to flower.

Am I expecting too much of them to flower in their first year (although I understood they should) or are these just later flowering?

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

 

Hi Fidgetsmum

I've never grown penstemons from cuttings, but my newly-planted 'Heavenly Blue' (a gorgeous plant, which has blue and purple 'metallic' flowers) has only just started to produce the odd flower. I think yours will settle down and will probably start to flower later in the season. As you'll know, they often keep flowering well into the autumn.

 

Thats one of my new favorites I discovered while at Hampton Court the other week, such a beautiful colour :luv:

 

It's gorgeous, isn't it? The colour is wonderful and the flowers have a kind of pearlescent finish which seems unique to this particular variety. The leaves are slightly shiny too. This time I'm growing mine in a pot and I think I'm going to try to give it some winter protection. It seems to be less hardy than some others. I'm going to take a few cuttings, too.

 

I would like to take some cuttings,do I put them in water or
potting compost

 

I've never tried to take cuttings before, but penstemons are supposed to be easy. My book says take 3 inch long shoots during August and September and pot up using a good, free-draining compost. They should then be overwintered in a greenhouse or cold frame and planted out the following spring. Personally I would wait until all danger of frost has passed.

 

Thank you ClaraLou,I will try that as I have a very pale pink one,
and would like some more.

 

My thanks for all comments. Again, my lack of patience shows itself

I bought these plants fully understanding that they can be 'tempermanental' insofaras they're border-line hardy, which is why I took so many cuttings - about 30 in all! Just as well, since only one Evelyn survived the winter in the garden! Now, although I love their flowers, I'm wondering whether they're really worth it - the idea was to start now so that in a few years time (when perhaps I'm not able to dig/bend etc., to the same extent), I'd have a mature garden which needs less maintenance - the idea of forever taking cuttings and them getting killed off each time - if we have more winters like 2009/10 - doesn't really appeal. Maybe, I need to think about replacing them with summat a bit more hardy?

uncletom - penstemons are possibly one of the easiest things to grow from cuttings.

Find, as ClaraLou says, non-flowering shoots (no problem with that in my garden at the minute!). Cut them cleanly just below a leaf joint leaving them about 3" long. I always dip them in hormone rooting powder although I know, some people don't feel this is necessary. I then insert about 3 into a 4" square pot filled with a 50/50 mix of John Innes Seed or No. 1 and vermiculite, water them gently, put some 'twigs' in to keep the plastic away from the cuttings' leaves, cover with a freezer bag and secure with an elastic band. Then just leave them until they've rooted, remove the bag and - when you see roots beginning to appear at the bottom of the pots, you can repot them individually. After that it's pretty much just keeping an eye on them and pinching the growing tips out occasionally to make bushier plants. Mine overwintered perfectly happily last year in an unheated greenhouse (even in that cold) - although I did put the pots fairly close together and just surround the whole lot with some bubble wrap. I watered them only sufficiently to keep them damp and not when there was a danger of them freezing. Since my coldframe was full, I hardened them off by just taking them in and out of the greenhouse on warmer days and, by the time I planted them out, they were abut 8" tall.

 

Try Penstomen 'Garnet'. I have read a number of sources that state that this the most hardy of them all.

I have had lots of different varieties of Penstomen over a period of time, and there is no question that they are lovely plants. But they all disappeared within one or at most two years. That is except for 'Garnet' which I have now had for 6 or 7 years.

I read that Penstomen are effected more by winter wet than by cold. And the word 'persistance' is often used for Penstomen when we would use 'hardy' for other plants. So giving them good drainage may help.

Since starting this post I have had a Google and found this from this site http://www.cottage-garden-plants.co.uk/Penstemon-Garnet.html

Penstemon 'Garnet' is the hardiest of the penstemons. The brilliant scarlet trumpet flowers continue all summer and into the autumn. The height is approximately 90 cm.

And this from Sarah Raven http://www.sarahraven.com/shop/plants-and-seedlings/penstemon/penstemon-garnet.html

The hardiest of the varieties we’ve trialled with narrow deep red flowers, which I remember over-wintering in my parents garden when I was a child. It has elegant, narrow, willow-like leaves.