I saw some radicle emergence on my penstemon smalli today. I should have seedlings there soon- in a day or two. Probably won't be able to get out there with all the rain tomorrow.
I collected those penstemon seeds from my own plant last year. It was taking forever and the seeds never convinced me that they were totally mature and I never saw any pods open. Finally I cut off some whole stems and let them dry a little more in the house before cracking open the hard pods to collect the seeds. I guess they were actually ripe!
Karen