Recipient of Europe's highest seed award, Twizzle is a breeding breakthrough extraordinaire! If you try only one new flower from seed this year . . . we know, it's a cliche, but in this case it's true! Please give Twizzle a go! Here's why:
First, this Beard-lip (the species is P. barbatus) flowers the first year from seed. This in itself would be enough reason to put Twizzle at the top of your list: no more waiting around a whole vernalization period for blooms! The little scarlet flowers are crammed so tightly along lengthy stems, the bees and butterflies can't even empty out all the nectar!
Second, it has a new habit: half the foliage of older varieties and twice the length of flowering stem! This means you get longer, more elegant wands for the vase without sacrificing an inch of plant size! And still, it's compact enough to put in containers.
Third, it's open pollinated. This means the plant will come true from seed. Let it self-sow in your garden or collect the seeds in fall and plant them wherever you want an injection of summer-long color!
Fourth, it's versatile. Sow seeds in fall for earlier spring blooms, or start indoors in late winter for first-year summer blooms. Twizzle doesn't mind!
Quite drought-tolerant once established in the garden, Twizzle sets masses of 1- to 1½-inch tubular blooms that serve as sirens to every pollinator in the neighborhood. It loves dry soil and doesn't mind poor fertility, heat, or other stresses. Twizzle is a fine choice for containers as well as the sunny border. Zones 4-9.
Grown as bedding plants and as denizens of borders and rock gardens. Flowers cut well for fresh use. Penstemon barbatus is an upright grower to 6 feet tall with 1 inch long, red tinged pink, tubular flowers. It is a perennial native to the western United States and Mexico. Hardy from Zones 4 to 9. Penstemon hartwegii is an upright grower 2-3 feet tall with scarlet, drooping, tubular flowers. Native to Mexico, it is grown as an annual, but is perennial in Zones 9 to 11. Penstemon strictus, Rocky Mountain Penstemon, is an upright grower to 3 feet tall with dark-blue to violet flowers. It is a perennial native to the western United States and is hardy from Zones 3 to 8
Superior Germination Through Superior Science
First of all, we have humidity- and temperature-controlled storage, and we never treat any of our seeds with chemicals or pesticides. Nor do we ever sell GMO's (genetically modified seeds), so you always know the products you're buying from us are natural as well as safe for you and the environment.
Superior Standards - University Inspected
Hand Packed By Experienced Technicians
Park Seed has been handling and packing vegetable and flower seeds for 145 years, a history that has given us a great understanding of how each variety should be cared for and maintained throughout every step of theprocess, from collection to shipping.
When packing our seeds, the majority are actually done by hand (with extreme care!), and we often over-pack them, so you're receiving more than the stated quantity.
The Park Seed Gold Standard
Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).
Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.
Recipient of Europe's highest seed award, Twizzle is a breeding breakthrough extraordinaire! If you try only one new flower from seed this year . . . we know, it's a cliche, but in this case it's true! Please give Twizzle a go! Here's why:
First, this Beard-lip (the species is P. barbatus) flowers the first year from seed. This in itself would be enough reason to put Twizzle at the top of your list: no more waiting around a whole vernalization period for blooms! The little scarlet flowers are crammed so tightly along lengthy stems, the bees and butterflies can't even empty out all the nectar!
Second, it has a new habit: half the foliage of older varieties and twice the length of flowering stem! This means you get longer, more elegant wands for the vase without sacrificing an inch of plant size! And still, it's compact enough to put in containers.
Third, it's open pollinated. This means the plant will come true from seed. Let it self-sow in your garden or collect the seeds in fall and plant them wherever you want an injection of summer-long color!
Fourth, it's versatile. Sow seeds in fall for earlier spring blooms, or start indoors in late winter for first-year summer blooms. Twizzle doesn't mind!
Quite drought-tolerant once established in the garden, Twizzle sets masses of 1- to 1½-inch tubular blooms that serve as sirens to every pollinator in the neighborhood. It loves dry soil and doesn't mind poor fertility, heat, or other stresses. Twizzle is a fine choice for containers as well as the sunny border. Zones 4-9.
Grown as bedding plants and as denizens of borders and rock gardens. Flowers cut well for fresh use. Penstemon barbatus is an upright grower to 6 feet tall with 1 inch long, red tinged pink, tubular flowers. It is a perennial native to the western United States and Mexico. Hardy from Zones 4 to 9. Penstemon hartwegii is an upright grower 2-3 feet tall with scarlet, drooping, tubular flowers. Native to Mexico, it is grown as an annual, but is perennial in Zones 9 to 11. Penstemon strictus, Rocky Mountain Penstemon, is an upright grower to 3 feet tall with dark-blue to violet flowers. It is a perennial native to the western United States and is hardy from Zones 3 to 8
Superior Germination Through Superior Science
First of all, we have humidity- and temperature-controlled storage, and we never treat any of our seeds with chemicals or pesticides. Nor do we ever sell GMO's (genetically modified seeds), so you always know the products you're buying from us are natural as well as safe for you and the environment.
Superior Standards - University Inspected
Hand Packed By Experienced Technicians
Park Seed has been handling and packing vegetable and flower seeds for 145 years, a history that has given us a great understanding of how each variety should be cared for and maintained throughout every step of theprocess, from collection to shipping.
When packing our seeds, the majority are actually done by hand (with extreme care!), and we often over-pack them, so you're receiving more than the stated quantity.
The Park Seed Gold Standard
Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).
Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.