Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Pink ), 0 by htop

htop wrote:
Foxglove, Fairy Thimbles, Dewflower, Wild Belladonna, Beardtongue, Showy Beardtongue, Balmony (Penstemon cobaea), Scrophulariaceae Family, native, short lived herbaceous perennial, blooms April through June

Foxglove is found on dry open prairies and eroded pastures and hillsides, slopes, bluffs and edges of creeks on chalk loam, limestone loam, gypsum loam or sandy loam soils. It is an upright, hairy perennial that has a thick, tuberous root. This root assists with its surviving scorching dry summers. In the summer, it whithers down and appears to be dead. In late winter, a thick, compact clump of leaves and a tall stem laden with buds emerges. It produces very large, 2" long, tubular white to violet to deep purple flowers (largest blooms of any native penstemon).and is pollinated by large bees which need to crawl inside the corolla tube. That is why the filaments of the four stamens are curved and rigid in order to prevent the corolla tube from collapsing. The long style sticks out past the lip of the corolla. This penstemon attracts a variety of moths and nectar insects, hummingbirds and butterflies. It is a larval host for the dotted checkerspot butterfly. Collect seed in summer when capsules are brown and seeds are black. Germination is best with cold-moist stratification. It may be propagted from herbaceous stem cuttings also. Foxglove is suitable for rock gardens, native plant gardens, wildscapes and other cultivated areas. Root rot can occur in wet, poorly-drained soils.

Distribution:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/vpt_map_name?reg=2,3,4,5,...

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/65167/index.html

Plants swaying in a brisk April breeze; the blooms are large and highly visible:


This message was edited Apr 17, 2007 1:21 PM