Penstemon pinifolius Greene

A dwarf, spreading shrub 4 to 12 in. high (up to 2 ft high in the wild), 3 ft or more wide. Leaves needle-like, 3⁄8 to 1 in. long, sharply pointed, narrowed at the base to a short indistinct petiole, glabrous. Flowers borne in August in terminal racemose or narrowly paniculate inflorescences 2 to 41⁄2 in. long, on pedicels 1⁄8 to 3⁄16 in. long, densely glandular-downy. Calyx about 3⁄16 in. long, divided to about half-way into five narrow, triangular-acute or ovate, long-apiculate lobes, glandular-downy. Corolla about 1 in. long, scarlet, narrowly tubular at the base, divided at the top into five oblong lobes rounded at the apex, three of them narrow, the other two broader. Stamens exserted from the throat but overtopped by the lobes. Ovary glabrous; style slender, exserted beyond the stamens.

Native of the S.W. United States in Arizona and New Mexico, extending into Mexico; introduced to Britain by Mrs Crewsdon, who received seeds from Dr Worth of the USA shortly before 1951. It is perfectly hardy in full sun and a well-drained soil.