Thanks very much for looking, raisingirl, your pic is exactly that purple in front of oranges and reds I was looking for. I have lots of nepeta and perovskia in the east borders the caradonna is moving to... I think its maybe a bit too cottagy/blue for my south border, which looks better with more strident colour and contrast, especially as its seen from more of a distance.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
does anyone know if soil conditions do affect the colour of penstemon flowers? If I look at 'Sour Grapes' on the Dorset Perennials website, it looks nothing like mine. But on Burncoose, it does look exactly like it. RHS - very similar. Sarah Raven, Crocus, not even close. I'm confused
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Apparently there are two different penstemons being sold as "Sour Grapes". The paler lilacy-silvery-bluey-occasionally-a-bit-pink-ish one (which I bought as Sour Grapes and is very nice, but not purple) is apparently "Stapleford Gem". I did wonder if yours was the "true" Sour Grapes.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I like the Pensham series of Penstemons, a very dark purple one similar to Raven but more sumptuous is 'Pensham Plum Jerkum'.. very hardy here in East Anglia, but quite tall... A shorter Pensham is 'Westminster Belle'... the foliage is different, softer and matte, but untroubled by my winters.. I've since acquired more plants of this through cuttings as I now grow it with my roses.. I took cuttings in November one year and they rooted through the winter..
I don't have great photos of it, but here are a couple, if it helps anyone at all..
I found that too, raisingirl, huge variety of colours shown for a single cultivar. RHS trials say ph does affect colour, but didn’t say how, frustratingly, but I suspect alkaline soil (like mine) makes them pinker. RHS also says they grow better in neutral to acid soil. That info is in this doc:
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I'm confused
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
A shorter Pensham is 'Westminster Belle'... the foliage is different, softer and matte, but untroubled by my winters.. I've since acquired more plants of this through cuttings as I now grow it with my roses.. I took cuttings in November one year and they rooted through the winter..
I don't have great photos of it, but here are a couple, if it helps anyone at all..
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/Penstemon-grower-guide-smaller.pdf
That one looks lovely, Marlorena, but most pics on the net show it as a deep pink, rather the lovely purple of yours!