Keckiella breviflora

This bush penstemon is a sprawling subshrub that usually props itself up on a rock or neighbor so you can see the purple striped, white flowers. Keckiella breviflora is a plant for tough situations along the edges of oaks or pines to 7000-8000'. Prefers good drainage and little water, but the original description was written about a plant grown in England from a plant collected in the Monterey area. Bush beard tongue is fairly deer proof and cold hardy. No damage at 12 degrees F, badly damaged at about 5 degrees F. I've seen this at 6000-7000' on Mt. Pinos. There are beautiful clumps of this penstemon in the lower Sierra Nevada making green-gray clumps of life amongst the gray granitic boulders. At the Santa Margarita Nursery we have Yawning Penstemon in nearly full shady(one of the oaks grew over it after 15 years) and it looks and flowers well at 18 years old.