Penstemon ‘Garnet’ aka ‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’
Penstemon ‘Firebird’ aka ‘Schoenholzeri’
The wonderful ‘Garnet’ Penstemon, together with its look-alike neighbor and offspring ‘Firebird’, have become stalwarts of our garden. They are huge for a “perennial”, easily reaching 2-3’ high and 3-4’ wide. They have abundant lovely, glossy, evergreen, narrow foliage, and are prolific bloomers. The mid-August photo (2nd photo) was taken two months after full-bloom in late June (top photo They will keep this up until Thanksgiving. Each spike holds up a large number of brightly-colored, long tubular flowers, with cute “faces”, a floral form showing their relationship to snapdragons. The “faces” are called “two-lipped” having 2 lobes above the opening of the tube, and three below. They have interesting markings – bee guides – and fuzziness. These are hummingbird and bee magnets. ‘Garnet’ is purply-red, while ‘Firebird’ is crimson red. I realize those colors are not coming out that distinct in the photos.
Penstemons are native to North America – in fact, with about 250 different species, they are the largest endemic genus of plants native to this continent. Most of the species are native to arid and/or mountainous regions, and mainly west of the Mississippi and throughout highland Mexico. These two plants are hybrids, but with strong P. campanulatus (Bell-flowered penstemon) features. This species has lavender-purple flowers, and does not grow as large as the hybrids, but the foliage and plant form are very similar. It hails from highland areas throughout Mexico.
Technically, these two Penstemons are “sub-shrubs”, in that they have a woody framework of lower stems, supporting lush herbaceous spikes. In late January this year, I hunted down YouTube videos – from the UK – that showed major whack-back was useful for maintaining the health and floriferousness of the plants. So, I did that. Scary to look at, but as you can see they came back with a FLOURISH!
Their cultural requirements are good drainage, lots of sun, and they tolerate fairly infertile soil. They are drought tolerant, but look better and bloom longer with summer irrigation. These two plants were originally in the South Side flower garden, but proved way too robust for that location. So, I moved them along the split-rail fence in the long Back Garden, behind the ‘Bakeri’ Blue Spruce. The soil there is very sandy and not very fertile, so is ideal for these. We see their lovely flowering from our dining room window for months on end – clear until very hard frost.
Ballyrobert Nursery in Northern Ireland provided the following info about ‘Garnet’: Penstemon 'Andenken en Friedrich Hahn', also known as 'Garnet', commemorates an 18th century German astronomer. It forms pinkish red, tubular flowers with attractive white striping on the inside. One of the oldest hybrid Penstemons, bred in 1918, it is still one of the best penstemon to grow. Its parent, P.'Southgate Gem,' was a very popular plant back in the early 1900s. It was a short-lived perennial, so the Swiss breeder, Hermann Wartmann, crossed it with either P. hirsutus or P. campanulatus. According to the oldest reference found, it's more than likely the parentage is P. campanulatus, since it's an easier cross to make between the species.
Debbie Teashon, the Rainyside Gardener, notes that Garnet is one of the most successful penstemons introduced in the Pacific Northwest. San Marcos Growers notes that it is long-lived, and very hardy, provided it has good winter drainage.
Digging Dog Nursery in California provides this information about ‘Firebird’: Arising in Switzerland when Paul Schoenholzer crossed Penstemon ‘Garnet’ and Penstemon ‘Southgate Gem’ in 1939, the ample, hummingbird-friendly bell-shaped flowers are bright red, heightened by a fiery touch of scarlet plus pink-lined white throats. This shrubby AGM winner was bred for longevity, sprouting tall durable stems, refined semievergreen foliage and a somewhat lax, yet mighty manner.
So ‘Firebird’ is a backcross of ‘Garnet’ to it’s parent ‘Southgate Gem’. No wonder the plant forms are virtually identical, with only the color of the flowers being different. Both plants have received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK.
