Foxglove Beardtongue

Foxglove Beardtongue

Common name: Foxglove Beardtongue 'Husker Red'

Scientific name: Penstemon digitalis

Family: Plantain, Plantaginaceae

Bloom period: May to June

Where to see it: Throughout the Building 1 and 2 gardens.

What to look for: Tubular flowers are white to blushing pink, arrayed in branching clusters (panicles) atop erect deep purple stems. When the foliage emerges in the spring, the leaves are deep maroon but mature to dark green during the summer. In the fall, flowers are followed by rounded to egg-shaped maroon-colored seed capsules and the foliage turns a bright, deep red.

Benefit to pollinators: Long tongued bees, butterflies, sphinx moths and hummingbirds sip nectar from the flowers.

More information: The common name “beardtongue” was adopted because the flowers contain a sterile stamen with a “bearded” stalk. This cultivar—Husker Red—was developed at the University of Nebraska and is thought to be named for the colors of that University’s Cornhuskers football team—scarlet & cream.