The birds planted this for us and I am so glad I didn't pull it early when I thought it was a weed. I checked Las Pilitas and I THINK it's Showy Penstemon (P. spectabilis), judging by the foliage. Any other opinions?

http://www.laspilitas.com/natu...

Sure looks like it. What a nice surprise gift!
This is the link on CalFlora for Penstemon spectabilis:
http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bi...
Click on the plant name for more info. One of the cool things about this website is the photo links they added near the bottom of the page for each plant, listed like this:

Information about Penstemon spectabilis from other sources:

Photos on CalPhotos / Picasa / Flickr
Photos or website references on Google

The penstemons are just wonderful! I only have a few and I think I need to concentrate on getting more of those. I'm sure that word will get out that your place is native plant friendly and the birds will be bringing you more surprises.

They have planted Mimulus in the past, and Lotus scoparius - both of which are favorites.
This is a hybrid Penstemon I bought which is nice after all our rain.

Really sad to report I lost half of this plant yesterday. At first I thought it was the really gusty winds we had, but when I looked this morning I realized it was a gopher!

I'm going to invest in some Society Garlic, as Sherry mentioned on the Salvia thread, besides the gassing, trapping, etc. grrrrrrrrr

Have you tried gopher cages? Zuzu is now planting all her roses in them.

The Society Garlic didn't work for me, Kathleen. It's true that the gophers didn't want it, but they ate everything around it.

I love the picture of the hybrid.

Sue, I didn't plant this Penstemon - the birds did! I don't think they know about cages.

I'm really bummed about losing the seeds - I hope the other half of the plant last long enough so I can harvest them.

Oh yeah, that's right, well darn them for picking that beauty to munch on!

I'm still planting society garlic today in more beds...I'll hope for the best....I wouldn't go out and buy it to try, but since I had it, it's no loss.

I found this thread months too late, but next time, you might try gopher granules, those little grainy things made out of castor oil. I use those when I plant bulbs, and so far, so good. Knock on wood!


This is not the greatest picture you're going to see, but here is P. spectabilis in its natural habitat.